TheOnlineBeacon.com
Thursday, October 22,, 2020
Volume 91 • Issue 6
COVID-19
College Considering Spring Break Changes BY BRIAN RHODES EDITOR-IN-CHIEF The college is considering shortening or even entirely eliminating spring break during the Spring 2021 semester. Adrienne Wootters, vice president of academic affairs, discussed the topic at MCLA’s Board of Trustees’ Academic Affairs Committee meeting on Thursday, Oct. 14, noting that a plan is going through governance. “We are proposing a change of spring break from a full week to two days,” she said at the meeting. “That would be Thursday and Friday, so a four day weekend.” MCLA President James Birge noted to Wootters, however, that Academic Policies Committee is pro-
posing an alternative plan, which would be the outright cancellation of spring break. “[Academic Policies Committee] are saying to wipe out spring break, to not have any spring break, and start the semester January 27,” Birge said at the meeting. “So it’s moving the start back a week and eliminating spring break. That’s what they’ve proposed and they have had, I think it was unanimous support, among the faculty on the committee.” Wootters noted that a shortening or outright cancellation of spring break would be a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. She said that any change to the length of spring break would change the start date of the spring semester.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY GINA PUC
Gina Puc, vice president of strategic initiatives, noted that discussions are ongoing between the col-lege’s committees to finalize the spring schedule. Part of this process includes making a decision about spring break. “Even going home for a long weekend, as we’ve found from this last one [Colombus Day weekend], intro-
duced a lot of new moving parts,” she said. “and we had to make sure students were safe when they came back.”
Voter Registration Deadlines Coming Soon
PHOTO BY RICARDO RAMIREZ BUXEDA
Voter registration deadlines for several states in the Northeast are coming up soon. Once you are registered, make sure that you vote in the upcoming state and general elections. More information on voting on back page (Page 12).
Gina Puc, vice president of strategic initiatives, noted that discussions are ongoing between the college’s committees to finalize the spring schedule. Part of this process includes making a decision about spring break. “We know that spring break because it is such an extended period of time, may pose some concerns around the public health and safety aspect with students and faculty and staff,” she said in a Microsoft Teams interview. Puc said that no decision has been decided on for certain as of yet, but that students will hear more about the spring semester in the coming weeks. She noted that break time for student and faculty mental health is a major concern. “It’s still being worked on, so a number of these concerns are being thought out,” she said. “We’re watching
Spring, Page 10
Massachusetts Ballot Questions Explained BY NATALIA GIACOMOZZI MANAGING EDITOR
Alongside the candidates running for elected office this November, the Massachusetts ballot features a question on expanding the state’s 2013 Right-To-Repair law and a question on the approval or dismal of ranked choice voting. According to an NBC10 Boston report on Oct. 9, question 1 seeks to give independent mechanics “broader access to telematics data,” the computerized diagnostic codes of a vehicle’s parts which are sent to a remote
server and are used to determine the extent of repairs. In a Sept. 13 article, the Boston Globe defined question 2 as seeking to transition the state to use the ranked choice system to vote. “Under the proposed system, voters have the option of ranking candidates for an office in order of preference. If a candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, then he or she is the winner. But if no one does, the candidate with the fewest votes is stripped away, and those voters are reallocated based on their second choice,” the Boston Globe wrote.
The Boston Globe editorial board also endorsed voting yes on question 1 on Oct. 13 and voting yes on question 2 on Oct. 11. Samantha Pettey, assistant professor of political science, theorized that the questions will still be lob-bied by interest groups in the state even if they do not pass in this election cycle. “I would imagine if the initiatives fail, there are people who will still try and pass these policies. Specifi-cally, I’d guess rank choice voting would continue to be a lo-
Questions, Page 3
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ERIN KILEY
Professor Erin Kiley included this sample ballot of ranked voice voting in an activities packet she made for one of her math courses.
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SGA
New SGA Sworn in; SAC Halloween Collaboration Approved BY NATALIA GIACOMOZZI MANAGING EDITOR Two weeks after the results of the SGA elections were in, the new members were sworn into their positions by president Shannon Prouty ’22 during SGA’s meeting on Monday, Oct. 19 via Microsoft Teams. Coordinating vice president (CVP) Noah Henkenius ’21, executive vice president (EVP) Melanie Davis ’22, residential seat member Ian Crombie ’23, class of 2023 president Edgar Perez ‘23, and the class of 2021 council consisting of president Crystal Wojick ’21, vice president Samantha Johnson ’21, and treasurer Brian Adelt ’21 individually took the sga oath of office to begin the meeting. Treasurer Kelli Garrant ’21 and senator-at-large Emma Marino ’22, currently the only senator in SGA, were also present. After the swearing in ceremonies, Prouty announced the date for beginning to plan the college’s upcoming annual Sam Gomez 5K Charity Race, Oct. 28. “Usually we have our EVP taking the lead on the Sam Gomez race. The first meeting for that will take place on Oct. 28 at 3:00 p.m. online. It’s a race that we hold every spring for a particular
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SGA
The new members of student government association (SGA) were in attendance for their first meeting on Monday, Oct. 19. Only Treasurer Kelli Garrant ‘21 and Senator-At-Large Emma Marino ‘22 retained the same positions. charity of our choice. It will be held online, virtually, [next] year for Covid reasons,” Prouty noted. She also said the college will be hosting a virtual open house near the end of the month. “On Wednesday, Oct. 28, from 6 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. there will be a virtual open house from the admissions office and is probably best if there is a student government representative there
to answer some very basic questions for incoming students so we can try and recruit for next year or for following years,” Prouty said. None of the SGA board members committed to the open house except for Perez, who requested to follow up with Prouty on what information to give prior to the event. She transitioned to student activities council (SAC) member Tarah Valin
’22, who attended the meeting to ask if SGA wanted to host its annual chowderfest during SAC’s Fright Night festival on Halloween day, Saturday Oct. 31. “Fright night is going to be a festival-like event where there is going to be multiple mini events happening all at once. It’s from 7:00 to midnight. One of the ideas that [SAC] advisor Nattie [Burfield] suggested that I reach out to SGA for is to do your chowderfest in Venable gym. I think it will be cool because the way it is set up is that people can eat chowder socially distanced and I think that would really bring people to the event,” Valin said. According to Chris Hantman, civic coordinator of engagement in student affairs, an Aramark employee, rather than an SGA member, would be required to hand out the chowder during Fright Night because of pandemic guidelines. SGA approved of hosting its chowderfest during Fright Night with zero “no” votes and approved of allocating the same budget as last year’s chowderfest for the event. According to Garrant, SGA spent more than $600 for providing chowder in 2019. Marino relayed that the All College Committee discussed the spring semester calendar
on Thursday, Oct. 15. “The original proposal that was sent to the All College Committee was that classes would begin on Jan. 27, 2020, and there would be no spring break for students. First this motion passed, but then it was rescinded and voted to re-discuss it,” Marino said. She added that the academic policies committee will not meet this week due to MCLA’s Day of Dialogue on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Garrant announced that Erin Kiley, associate professor of mathematics, is the new vice chairperson of the curriculum committee. Prouty told everyone that anyone on the SGA eboard and senate is required to sit on two committees. “We can discuss those later, and if you are a class councilor, then it is recommended that you sit on one committee I believe,” she said. Davis, Perez and Garrant agreed to serve on the SGA budget finance committee at the end of the meeting. Prouty also offered the role of senate secretary to Marino and Crombie, but both of them declined due to prior commitments. “If it needs to be filled, then I will do that,” Crombie said. The next SGA meeting will be held on Monday, Oct. 26.
Board of Trustees
Fiscal Affairs Committee Talks Renovation Projects BY BRIAN RHODES EDITOR-IN-CHIEF The college has provided several updates on ongoing, planned and potential renovation projects on campus. MCLA President James Birge discussed the college’s master plan, which makes note of present and future priorities and concerns of the college at MCLA’s Board of Trustees’ Fiscal Affairs Committee meeting on Friday, Oct. 15. When asked by Trustee John Barrett III about what the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) has discussed with the college about money issues related to COVID-19, Birge elaborated on the talks. “We’ve had a couple of conversations with them about a variety of things related to COVID-19,” he said. “One was about how we adjust filtering and air pressure systems in DCAMM buildings, so we’ve done those things.” Birge also mentioned that all the state universities have
received $975,000 this semester for small project repairs. He said that COVID-19 has not affected DCAMM’s commitment to give the college this money. “[DCAMM Commissioner] Carrol Gladstone has indicated there might be more money along those lines,” he said. Whether the college will get the requested $26 million in state funding for The Connector Project, which would renovate and connect both Mark Hopkins Hall and Eldridge Hall, is still unknown, according to Birge. He said that, because of COVID-19, the state has halted all decisions for DCAMM project proposals like this. “We continue to think that we have a very strong proposal,” Birge said at the meeting. “We think, not only from our assessment but from external assessments, we’ve heard that it’s looked on very favorably.” Birge noted that the renovation of Mark Hopkins is priority number one on the
master plan. The renovation of Eldridge is priority number five on the master plan list. “If we get that [funding for the Connector Project], we satisfy those two projects,” he said. The second priority on the master plan, Birge mentioned, is the renovation of Venable Hall. “Venable Hall is a project that is equally expensive, probably a $20 million project,” Birge said. “We are addressing some of the things there where we can, mostly addressing wear and tear and some infrastructure issues.” Birge noted that the MCLA Foundation has provided some money to work on Venable Theatre. He said the college is hoping this work will be completed by January. “That work is proceeding,” he said. “We’re also using some of the small projects repair money that we got from DCAMM to
Trustees, Page 10
PHOTO TAKEN FROM MCLA.EDU Karen Kowalczyk is the chair of the MCLA Board of Trustee’s Fiscal Affairs Committee meeting.
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Oct 22, 2020
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The Chicago 7: A timeline of the protests, the clashes, the trial and also, the fallout BY DOUG GEORGE CHICAGO TRIBUNE The Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago in August 1968, in the summer of a tumultuous year. The events of that month, and a subsequent court case, are the subject of the new Aaron Sorkin movie “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” Here is a timeline of the protests and subsequent trial that the film explores. THE BACKGROUND The year 1968 was a year of increasing protests against the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy in June and Martin Luther King Jr. in April and subsequent unrest, including in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhoods. The convention was held over four days at the International Amphitheatre on Hasted Street on the South Side. Between Aug. 26-29, the Democratic Party would select Hubert Humphrey as its candidate for the presidential election the following November. (Incumbent president Lyndon B. Johnson had withdrawn; Humphrey would be defeated in the election by Richard Nixon.) THE PROTESTS Before and during the convention, rallies and protests were held in downtown lakefront parks, including Grant Park several miles
PHOTO BY WILLIAM YATES
Six of the Chicago Seven defendants appear in 1970. From left, Abbie Hoffman, John Froines, Lee Weiner, Jerry Rubin, Rennie Davis and Tom Hayden were acquitted of conspiracy, but five were convicted of other charges. away from the convention site, mostly about American involvement in Vietnam under LBJ. Some were organized by the Yippies, the Youth International Party founded by Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and a few friends and known for their street theater-style protests in New York. Another organizer was the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (aka MOBE). THE CLASHES In Chicago, Mayor Richard J. Daley said repeatedly that “law and order will be maintained” during the convention. Protesters were denied permits to march in the Loop and near the Am-
phitheatre. Smaller protests and demonstrations in the days leading up to the convention ended with police intervention, including a Yippie-led “nomination” of a pig for president in Civic Center plaza Aug. 23. The city granted permission for a single afternoon rally in Grant Park on Aug. 28. That rally drew a crowd of several thousand, with a number of protesters afterwards moving into the Loop. They were stopped by police and the National Guard in front of the Conrad Hilton Hotel on Michigan Avenue, where the presidential candidates and their campaigns were headquartered. The ensuing clash
with police was televised nationwide, with Americans treated to images of tear gas filling the evening air and chaotic and bloody clashes between young protestors and the police, alternating with coverage of Humphrey’s nomination. THE CHARGES In the aftermath in September, a federal grand jury met to consider criminal charges. A group that became known as the Chicago 7 was charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot and other crimes. The original eight defendants indicted on March 20, 1969, were Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis,
John Froines, Lee Weiner and Bobby Seale. Weiner was the only Chicagoan. Seale was tried separately during the proceedings. Separately, eight police officers were charged with violating the civil rights of demonstrators by use of excessive force. THE TRIAL The Chicago 7 trial opened before Judge Julius Hoffman in a courtroom for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago on Sept. 24, 1969. It would drag on for several months, with frequent courtroom disruptions. Seale, who is Black, was gagged and bound to a chair on Oct. 29 after he spoke up in his own defense. The case finally went to the jury on Feb. 14, 1970. The next day Judge Hoffman convicted all defendants, plus defense attorneys William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass, of contempt of court. THE AFTERMATH The jury returned its verdicts on Feb. 18, 1970. Froines and Weiner were acquitted. Dellinger, Davis, Hayden, Hoffman and Ruben were convicted of crossing state lines with intent to incite a riot. But in subsequent proceedings, the judge’s contempt charges were reversed, and all of the convictions for inciting riots were overturned.
Tyler Perry Aims to get Over 250,000 Black Florida Residents Voting in New Election Effort BY DEVOUN CETOUTE MIAMI HERALD
As Election Day comes closer and more initiatives are popping up to get as many voters to the polls as possible, Tyler Perry is throwing his hat in the ring with a new campaign that is aiming to get hundreds of thousands of Black Florida residents voting. Tyler Perry and the Equal Ground Education Fund have teamed up to launch “Souls to the Polls”, a socially distanced voting campaign that aims to educate and increase turnout of Black voters in Florida. “A national pandemic, racial tensions, blatant disregard for Black bodies and a presidential election that can’t be won without the votes of Black folks have shaped the way we connect with voters,” said Jasmine Burney-Clark founder of the Equal Ground Education Fund. Souls to the Polls will be an amalgamation of what
PHOTO DAVID SANTIAGO
Miami-Dade resident Zaida Perez shows her sticker after casting her vote on first day of early voting for the general election at Shenandoah Branch Library in Miami on October 19, 2020 the fund is calling “Park & Praise” events held in 25 counties across Florida, this includes Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. In the past, these events occurred in urban centers but has been expanded this year, according to the non-profit.
These events will be held during the final two weekends leading up to Election Day. At a “Park & Praise” event, an attendee can stay in their car as they pull in and drop off their vote by mail ballot. After, they can listen to com-
munity and local faith leaders, gospel choirs, elected officials and political candidates and musical entertainment. Equal Ground’s is spending half a million dollars on this campaign, which is partially funded by Perry, according to the nonprofit. Equal
Ground is a Black-led nonpartisan nonprofit that works on building Black political power in Florida. The duo are targeting over 250,000 Black voters, which is about 6.88% of Florida’s Black population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data in 2019.
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Oct 22, 2020
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COVID-19 Hits Key States Two Weeks From Vote BY JONATHAN LEVIN BLOOMBERG NEWS The COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting some crucial voters two weeks before Election Day, costing American lives and potentially hurting President Donald Trump, who has received overwhelmingly poor grades from Democrats and independent voters on his virus response. Wisconsin is the most extreme example, a swing state that Trump won in 2016 that now has America’s fourthworst outbreak by per-capita cases in the past week. Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Michigan have all seen difficult stretches, and cases have been creeping back up in recent weeks. In North Carolina, counties with large Black communities which helped former President Barack Obama win the state in 2008 are facing their hardest stretch of the pandemic. In Florida, where Trump and Democrat Joe Biden have been in a battle for Hispanic votes, the counties with the highest percentage of them
PHOTO BY WIN MCNAMME
President Donald Trump (above). The latest BBC and CNN polls as of Tuesday, Oct. 20 show Biden with a 10-point lead over Trump nationwide. continue to see the worst rates of new cases. There’s also Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. Like other Midwestern states, Nebraska missed much of the initial onslaught of COVID-19, and is experiencing it in earnest for the first time. It has America’s fifth-worst weekly case total
per capita. Overall, Nebraska hasn’t gone for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson. But unlike all other states except Maine, its Electoral College votes aren’t winnertake-all: The state gives two of its five electoral votes to the statewide winner and distributes the other three to the
candidates who win each of its three congressional districts. That means Nebraska’s swing 2nd Congressional District, which includes Omaha, could be a difference-maker in the closest of elections. The district includes Douglas County and a part of Sarpy County, which have slightly worse per-capita virus rates than the
state in the past week. Nationally, the U.S. reported 48,318 cases Sunday, pushing the seven-day average to 55,961, the highest since Aug. 5, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Through Sunday, about 220,000 people in the country have been reported dead of the virus, the data show. Across the nation: The states with the highest per-capita cases in the past seven days are North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin and Nebraska, Covid Tracking Project data show. The highest per-capita current hospitalization rates are in South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Indiana and Mississippi, according to the project. Connecticut has seen the most dramatic trend swing, with its seven-day average of new cases up 60% in the past week. In Illinois, COVID-19 hospitalizations hit 2,073 on Saturday, the highest since June 13, but they fell slightly on Sunday. In New York, cases have at least temporarily plateaued after a concerning trend at the start of the month. Trump himself tested positive for covid-19 on Friday, Oct. 2.
Newsom Says California Will Review FDA-Approved COVID-19 Vaccines Before Releasing To Public BY TARYN LUNA LOS ANGELES TIMES
California will review the safety of all COVID-19 vaccines that receive federal approval before distributing them to the public, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday. The governor announced the creation of a new workgroup of physicians and scientists working with the California Department of Public Health that will “independently review” all federal Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccines, he said. “Of course, we don’t take anyone’s word for it,” Newsom said at a news conference on Monday. “We will do our own independently reviewed process with our world-class experts that just happen to live here in the state of California.” Vaccines, like many other aspects of the nation’s response to the pandemic, have become increasingly politicized. Newsom’s insistence on a state review of any vaccines approved by the federal government comes amid concerns about whether the Trump administration will attempt to rush the approval process. Newsom’s announcement also raised new uncertainty about coronavirus vaccines just days Dr. Anthony Fauci said he felt “strong confidence” in the safety of those
approved by the Federal Drug Administration. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CBS Evening News that he expects to know in November or December if some potential COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. He said that if all six vaccine candidates currently undergoing clinical trials are proven to be safe and effective, they could be widely available by next April. But the governor on Monday said mid-2021 is a realistic projection for when a vaccine would be distributed to the public. Newsom acknowledged the “political polarization” around vaccines and said the state needs to monitor the safety, distribution and health effects. “So, no matter who the next president is, we’re going to maintain our vigilance,” Newsom said. “We are going to do what California is well known to do and that is to make sure that we have a redundancy and that we maintain our vigilance to have a second set of eyes on the things that are being asserted and the information that’s being provided.” State public health officials last spring started having early discussions about how vaccines and therapeutic medicines to treat people with the virus
PHOTO BY GENARO MOLINA
California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. Similar to the Deomcratic governors of Michigan and Virginia, Newsom has been on the recieving end of President Donald Trump’s twitter account. would be distributed in California once developed and approved. Among the priorities would be to provide the vaccines to people considered most at risk from the virus, along with ensuring equitable distribution to people across the state, regardless of income or geography. In May, a top Newsom administration official said that this sort of planning is done whenever a new vaccine or medicine in great need to protect the public health is developed.
Those efforts came together in an 84-page draft proposal of a plan to distribute and administer vaccines that the California Department of Public Health submitted last week to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The broad outline, dated Friday, includes goals to prioritize vaccines while doses are limited for healthcare personnel at risk of contracting the virus, those at risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 and essential workers.
When vaccines become more widely available, the population of eligible recipients will grow to non-essential workers and the general public. As states begin formalizing plans for vaccine distribution, governors are also calling for the federal government to provide more detailed guidelines and oversight. According to the state government’s website, California reached more than 870,000 coronavirus cases as of Monday, Oct. 19.
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Sharon Head Adjusting to COVID, New Environment BY ISABEL COSTA STAFF WRITER “If this new way of teaching has taught me anything it’s that strong relationships with students are the foundation of learning,” Said Dr. Sharon Head , a new faculty member here at MCLA in the special education department. Dr. Head is one of a handful of new faculty members have entered the MCLA community in less then normal times due to the COVID19 pandemic. Head grew up in central Maryland and across the course of her life she lived in New Mexico and Seattle, mainly partaking in a career as a special education teacher for 15 years in New Mexico and Washington State. Head knew she wanted to look into faculty positions in collegiate settings, and having some family also on the East Coast she decided to broaden her search in the greater Northeast region. Head knew that she wanted to work in a college that had a strong teacher prep program, as we have at MCLA. “I did my undergrad work at a small liberal arts school in Maryland and I was looking for colleges that had both the education prep program as well as a strong liberal arts program, I have found a great benefit from a strong liberal arts background,” said Head. Head took to her love of education later in life noting , “my mom was a school secretary, and worked in a school office and my dad was a PE teacher, I just wasn’t drawn to it early on. “After I completed my undergrad, I landed a job with a public library, and worked as a reference librar-ian for 15 years. Apart of that position
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SHARON HEAD
Dr. Head with a handful of new faculty members have entered the MCLA community in less then nor-mal times due to the COVID- 19 pandemic. was working as a children’s librarian doing story time’s and puppet shows, and I just loved it,” said Head. Seeing children every week for Storytime assured Head that this was the career she wanted to spend her life focusing on. “Instead of seeing students once a week for library story time sessions , wouldn’t it be great to see them every day? I decided to go back to get my teaching license and I just loved the work,” said Head “Right off the bat from the first phone interview as well as coming to campus, I just knew it felt like a communi-
ty that I wanted to be a part of,” she said. “I wanted to be a part of helping schools to bring about the change that we know needs to happen to better serve student” Head said From the beginning I felt that this was going to be a great place and great people to work with, said Head. During the COVID-19 pandemic MCLA has witnessed the change that might bring about to the future of teaching. Acknowledging this, Head has some concerns about college level and all levels of school going forward. “I truly worry how well we are serving students will
moderate to severe disabilities, whether it is in a face to face environment or an online environment. Right now, I have a lot of immediate concerns about if we are meeting their needs academically as well as their access to peers. I fear that students with these severe disabilities will feel isolated or put away. What I am looking forward to beyond the pandemic is a lot of really good conversations about what was working before the pandemic and what was not working. “I feel it is also an opportunity to improve and work with professionals right now
“If this new way of teaching has taught me anything it’s that strong relationships with students are the foundation of learning,” - Professor Sharon Head
Check out this semester’s latest episode of Beacon Web News on YouTube or MCLA-TV on Philo!
out in the field,” said Head. Teaching almost entirely remotely has been an interesting challenge for Head, “I had never taught online before until last June when I taught a course online at the University of New Mexico before I moved to the Berkshires. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of connection and deep level of conversation out of a physical classroom and through an online medium.” “It felt like there was a stronger level of opportunity then if we were off in a classroom,” said Head. MCLA will be moving to fully online classes after Thanksgiving which means even another new level to teaching and learning. “I have been so impressed with the students at MCLA with their way of engaging with the online content and the conversations, the level of curiosity and engagement and overall kindness of students has really helped me throughout all the new online learning for me,” said Head. The college held an online training course for faculty over the summer which has aided Head in this new normal for teaching here on campus. “I knew my learning curve would be steep and it still is, just having that helped me feel so connected to faculty, I was even in discussion groups with other faculty,” said Head. MCLA has been really trying to walk faculty through this knew way of learning doing the best we can during this time. Head added, “The MCLA faculty has been very welcoming and supportive across all departments and I am looking forward to continuing to be a part of it going forward.”
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Arts & Entertainment
Oct. 22, 2020
* THURSDAY, OCT. 22 - Stem in the Operating Room with Berkshire Orthopedics Live at the Berkshire Innovation Center 9:00 a.m. - MCLA Career and Internship Fair 11:00 a.m. Virtual - Be A Chemist! Berkshire Museum 12:00 p.m.
* FRIDAY, OCT. 23 - Should I stay or should I go? Migration behavior of the dark-eyed junco
Virtaul 8 a.m.
- Ecology Workshop for Educators: Predator/Prey Behavior
Virtaul 10 a.m. - Online ghosts tours at the mount 8 p.m. Virtual
* SATURDAY, OCT. 24 - North Adams Farmers Market
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9 a.m. North Adams Armory parking lot at 206 Ashland Street
- DIY Halloween Makeup Tutorial
Virtual 1 p.m. - Blacklight Lazer Tag Campus Center Gym 6 p.m.
* SUNDAY, OCT. 25 - Pop Up Bistro at The Mount The Mount in Lenox 10 a.m.
* MONDAY, OCT. 26 - VIOLA YIP CONCERT/Q&A VIRTUAL 7 P.M.
* TUESDAY, OCT. 27 - Would You Know Harassment if You Saw It? Virtual Teams Meeting 12 p.m.
* WEDNESDAY, OCT. 28 - Whitney Stoddard Lecture: John Ochsendorf Virtual 5 p.m.
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Arts & Entertainment
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Gallery 51
Gallery 51 to Host Artist Talk With Trinh Mai BY MARIAMA NDIAYE STAFF WRITER This upcoming Thursday, Oct. 29, MCLA’s Gallery 51 is hosting an artist speaker, Trinh Mai, via Zoom. In her talk, she will be touching on numerous serious topics that will be of interest to students interested in art, immigration, and the gallery. Trinh Mai is a second-generation Vietnamese American visual artist who examines the refugee and immigrant experience, then and now. According to the MCLA website, she helps tell the stories of the “enduring” people while focusing on our witnessing of war, the wounds we’ve survived, and our collective need to heal. Trinh will discuss concept development, inspiration, how projects can inform each other, ephemera, and materials, and how they help in storytelling. She will also be showing her project on display in “Hostile Terrains 94.” This exhibit will be in Gallery 51. Erica Wall, director of MCLA’s Berkshire Cultural Resource Center, will be moderating the talk and contributed to bringing Mai to MCLA as well. Wall made a few comments on the process of creating the talk and also more about Mai as an artist. “The Hostile Terrain proj-
ect was brought to us by Dr. Anne-Jaysane Darr, and the initial Hostile Terrain exhibition was actually a huge map that will geographically fill the remains of people who did the migration across the South Western borders,” stated Wall. She added, “I brought Trinh Mai to make an expansion to create a full exhibition around the Hostile Terrain project. It is an opportunity for us, faculty, and students, to look at the idea of migration to the United States from Vietnam.” Wall described Mai’s work in detail. “Her works specifically looks at the refugee experience and the political policy around Hostile Terrain. And those issues and those policies are still part of discussions that we’re having today.” “We wanted to make sure the experience of those who are seeking asylum and a new home here in North Adams, that we really make it as representational as possible, and her work has always been about that demographic or that experience,” Wall said. “She as an artist, that I have met three years ago, in Orange County, Southern California, shows the real-time of the experience of all immigrants together, what motivated or prompted their migration here, and what that experience looks like when
PHOTO PROVIDED BY VERONICA PRECIADO
Trinh Mai is a second-generation Vietnamese American visual artist who examines the refugee and immigrant experience, then and now. you get in America.” Wall has a personal connection with Mai.
“Who are these people? and how do we identify with them? from the history
of even just the world nar
Trinh Mai, Page 10
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Sports
Oct. 22, 2020
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Clippers Officially Reach Coaching Agreement With Last Year’s Assistant Coach Tyronn Lue BY ANDREW GREIF LOS ANGELES TIMES As Tyronn Lue continues to reach out to potential candidates to join his staff, the Los Angeles Clippers finalized their new coach’s fiveyear contract and officially announced his hiring Tuesday. Lue, who coached Cleveland to the 2016 NBA championship after a midseason promotion and most recently served as an assistant coach last season under Doc Rivers, also interviewed for openings in Houston and New Orleans before agreeing in principle on Oct. 15 to become the 26th head coach in Clippers history. The 43-year-old Lue was one of the first candidates interviewed by the Clippers during a three-week coaching search in which officials spoke with nearly 10 candidates, including Denver Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr., former Houston Rockets coach and current ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy, Clippers assistant Sam Cassell and former Los Angeles Lakers and Cavaliers coach Mike Brown. “We found that the best
PHOTO BY MICHAEL REAVES
Assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers Tyronn Lue during a game against the Denver Nuggets in the Second Round during the 2020 NBA Playoffs. Lue is in negotiations with the Clippers to become the team’s next coach. choice for our team was already in our building,” said Lawrence Frank, the team’s president of basketball operations, in the team’s hiring announcement. Lue will be introduced Wednesday morning for the first time since the hiring. He is one of eight active coaches to have won an NBA championship on the sideline and has been called a bright tactician known for his quick in-game adjustments. The Clippers, hungry for a championship after
falling flat in the postseason’s second round despite holding a 3-1 series lead, called his title experience a strong factor in his elevation from assistant to head coach following owner Steve Ballmer’s decision not to bring back Rivers in late September. Frank said the team expects Lue to “drive us to new heights.” “Ty has been where we want to go. He is a championship head coach with an extraordinary feel for the
game and the people who play it,” Frank said. Lue and the team are still deciding who will fill his coaching staff, a process that is expected to continue into next week. Larry Drew and Chauncey Billups are expected to eventually join the team and serve as two of his three front-row assistants, people with knowledge of the situation told the Los Angeles Times last week. Drew is a former head coach who worked under Lue in Cleveland and succeeded
him after the Cavaliers fired Lue following an 0-6 start to the 2018-19 season. Billups is an NBA champion point guard who worked as a Clippers television analyst last season and is one of Lue’s closest friends. Billups had drawn interest from the Indiana Pacers for its head coaching job. Lue inherits a team that is expected by rival executives to remain a strong contender for the Western Conference championship in 2021 but lacked the on-court precision and chemistry to fulfill their championship aspirations in the team’s first season after acquiring All-Star forwards Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. “The pieces we need are in place _ committed ownership, smart management, and elite talent, on and off the court, in the NBA’s best market,” Lue said in a release. “My familiarity with the organization, particularly Mr. Ballmer and Lawrence, confirmed this is where I want to be. We have work to do to become champions, but we have the motivation, the tools, and the support to get there. I’m excited to get started.”
Tiger Woods Feeling Blue as he Looks to Defend the 2020 ZOZO Championship Title - PGA Tour
BY SAM FARMER LOS ANGELES TIMES
Tiger Woods wears his heart on his neck sleeve. The legendary golfer pulled up his Dodgers face covering on a video call Tuesday to reveal that familiar intertwined LA logo. “You see where my heart’s at,” Woods said, talking through the mask. “So yes, I like where we’re at, and the fact we’ve got (Clayton) Kershaw on the bump. Look forward to it.” It’s no wonder Woods is feeling especially nostalgic this week about his Southern California roots. He’s defending his ZOZO Championship title at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, which debuted last year in Japan but was moved because of the pandemic. Talk about a home-course advantage. Sherwood is where Woods has hosted the Hero World Challenge from 2000-2013, finishing first five times and second five more in the unofficial money event. “The shape of the golf course hasn’t changed, but the greens have changed
PHOTO BY GREGORY SHAMUS
Tiger Woods during the second round of the 120th U.S. Open Championship on September 18, 2020, at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York. since the last time I’ve played,” said Woods, who practiced on the back nine Tuesday. “They’re a little bit flatter, a little bit bigger. Some of the contours are gone, so it’s a bit different.” The dramatic undulations of 2020, however, are unmatched. For instance, Woods has been Masters champion for 18 months, and will return to Augusta National next month to defend that 2019 title at a completely different and unfamiliar time of year.
“This whole year’s been different for all of us,” he said. “The fact that the Masters will be held in November, it’s unprecedented, never been done before. I can’t simulate the ramp-up that I normally have, and I don’t think anyone else can either. It will be different for all of us.” The ZOZO field includes 25 of the top 30 players in the official world rankings, including John Rahm (No. 2), Justin Thomas (3), Collin Morikawa (4), Rory McIlroy
(5), Xander Schauffele (7), Webb Simpson (8), Tyrrell Hatton (9) and Patrick Reed (10). Dustin Johnson, the world’s No. 1 player, withdrew from the tournament this week because of a positive COVID-19 test. He’s the son-in-law of NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, a Sherwood member. Sherwood has a rich history beyond the golf world. A half-century before Jack Nicklaus designed the course, the Thousand Oaks
site was a filming location for the 1938 movie “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Subsequently, the area became known as “Sherwood Forest” and “Maid Marian Park.” Recently, several scenes from the movie “Bridesmaids” were shot at the course and in the clubhouse. Morikawa, who grew up in nearby La Canada-Flintridge, has played the course twice, once during his senior year at the University of California and once as a guest. So he won’t be drawing from a deep well of experience at the place. “I came out here when I was really young to watch Tiger’s event,” he said. “But I couldn’t tell you anything about that day other than I remember waiting underneath one of the balconies for signatures. Never got one.” When Woods won this tournament last year, it was his 82nd Tour victory. erent.” The place has all the hallmarks of a Nicklaus course, he said. “This golf course is typical Jack,” he said. “It’s pret-
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Men’s Basketball Hopes to Build on Last Year for Winning Season BY KYLE MILLIGAN SPORTS EDITOR Men’s basketball looks to build off of last year’s season by winning the MASCAC championship this year. Although the possibility of a basketball season is still pending upon the MASCAC’s decision whether to proceed with Winter sports, the Trailblazers are still preparing themselves to win it all this year. “As a team, our goal is to win the MASCAC championship and go as far as we can through the D III tournament,” said Noah Yearsley ‘21. Yearsley is a senior guard for the Blazers who has his eyes on winning the MASCAC championship. Something that hasn’t been done since the 1989-1990 season. “A championship hasn’t been won for basketball in a while so to do that would feel very special to not only us players, but the coaches, staff, students, families, and fans,” said Yearsley. The Blazers finished last year’s season with a 15-11 overall record, and 7-5 in conference play. enough for a 3 seed in the MASCAC tournament. MCLA won the first round against Fitchburg St. before losing in the semi-final round to Worcester St. Yearsley believes last year’s results will make this year’s team more focused. “Falling short of our goal last year, only makes the players and coaches that much hungrier to win a championship this year,” Yearsley said. Yearsley has had some individual success to go
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SCOREBOARD NFL: Week 6 Sunday
Titants (42), Texans (36) R. Tannehill (TEN) 30/41, 364 YDS, 4 TD
Colts (31), Bengals (27) P. Rivers (IND) 29/44, 371 YDS, 3 TD
Falcons (40), Vikings (23) M. Ryan (ATL) 30/40, 371 YDS, 4 TD
Broncos (18), Patriots (12) P. Lindsay (DEN) 23 CAR, 101 YDS
Giants (20), Washington (19)
D. Jones (NYG) 12/19, 112 YDS, 1 TD, 7 CAR, 74 YDS
PHOTO TAKEN FROM MCLA ATHLETICS
Noah Yearsley ‘21 was named to the All MASCAC Second Team in the 2019-2020 season. Yearsley looks to continue his success to contribute to the teams high expectations. along with some hardware to see who spent these last during the Fall semester. so far in his college basket- 6 months working on their Leaders on the team are ball career. Yearsley was game,” said Quentin Git- hoping the younger guys awarded the MASCAC tens ‘23. work hard and stay conRookie of the Year in 2017Gittens is a sophomore ditioned for the season, 2018. Last year, Yearsley guard who last year as a due to not having the same was named to the All MAS- freshman made an imme- amount of practice time. CAC Second Team. diate impact and had sev- Like other teams during With a season hopeful- eral big time moments for this time, individual work ly awaiting, the Blazers the Blazers last year. “My is crucial this year. are working hard to be main goal as of right now “I want to assert myself prepared for what is yet is to make the All Confer- on this team right away as to come. Both men’s and ence 1st team and to win someone who is not scared women’s teams are able the conference,” Gittens of any assignment and I to begin practicing now said. look forward to challengwith COVID-19 policies in Gittens created one of the ing the upperclassmen and place, similar to Fall and most exciting moments of earning their respect early Spring teams this semester. the season, hitting a game on,” said possible transfer Both teams are in hopes for winning jump shot to win player, Stephen Cartolano a Spring semester start to in overtime over Westfield ‘23. the season. during the home stretch of Freshmen along with “I, as well as the rest of the regular season. transfer players are doing the team will be practicing Men’s basketball coach their best to stay ready three times a week and us- Derek Shell will begin his for opportunities that may ing the shooting machine 5th year as head coach for be presented to them in a during our off time when the Blazers. Shell posted strange first season. the gym is open,” Yearsley his best win - loss record ”For now It is important said. last season since taking that I gain trust from my “It really just comes over in 2016. Shell had just teammates and my coach down to dedication and 18 wins in 3 seasons, before and show them that me commitment. Since we were winning 15 just last year. working hard and supportsent home from school last Practice for both men’s ing them will always be a semester it’s been a great and women’s basketball be- constant from me,” said opportunity to get a couple gan on Oct. 19. Three prac- Cartolano. steps ahead of the competi- tices a week, no contact, If there is a season the tion. Many people relaxed with two separate groups Blazers will look to end while others stayed in the to limit gym capacity. There their MASCAC championgym so it will be very easy will be no games played ship drought of 30 years.
Beacon Sports Trivia: World Series Edition Pt. 2 Which World Series matchup has happened the most?
Which player holds the record for most career World Series home runs?
What year was the first World Series played?
a. Yankees - Dodgers b. Yankees - Giants c. Yankees - Cardinals
a. Babe Ruth b. Reggie Jackson c. Mickey Mantle
a. 1884 b. 1903 c. 1910
Last Week’s Trivia Answers Who threw the only no-hitter in World Series history?
Which is the last team to win consecutive World Series titles?
Which is the only franchise to not make a World Series?
c. Don Larson
b. Yankees
c. Mariners
Ravens (30), Eagles (28)
L Jackson (BAL) 16/27, 186 YDS, 1 TD, 9 CAR, 108 YDS 1 TD
Steelers (38), Browns (7) B. Roethlisberger (PIT) 14/22, 162 YDS, 1 TD
Bears (23), Panthers (16) N. Foles (CHI) 23/39, 198 YDS, 1 TD
Lions (34), Jaguars (16)
D. Swift (DET) 14 CAR, 116 YDS, 2 TD
Dolphins (24), Jets (0) R. Fitzpatrick (MIA) 18/27, 191 YDS, 3 TD
Buccaneers (38), Packers (10) T. Brady (TB) 17/27, 166 YDS, 2 TD
49ers (24), Rams (16)
J. Garoppolo (SF) 23/33, 268 YDS, 3 TD
Monday Chiefs (26), Bills (17)
P. Mahomes (KC) 21/26, 225 YDS, 2 TD
Cardinals (38), Cowboys (10)
K. Murray (ARI) 9/24, 188 YDS, 2 TD, 10 CAR, 74 YDS, 1 TD
MLB: World Series Game 1 Recap Dodgers (8), Rays (3) SP: C. Kershaw (LAD) 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER,1 BB, 8 K SP: T. Glasnow (TB) 4.1 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 8 K M. Betts (LAD) 4 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 1 RBI, 1 BB M. Muncy (LAD) 4 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 2 RBI, 1 BB Game 2: Wednesday, Oct.21 8:08 EDT Dodgers lead series 1-0
NCAA Football Rankings 1 Clemson 5-0 2 Alabama 4-0 3 Notre Dame 4-0 4 Georgia 3-1 5 Ohio State 0-0 6 Oklahoma 3-0 7 Texas A&M 3-1 8 Penn State 0-0 9 Cincinnati 3-0 10 Florida 2-1 11 Miami 4-1 12 BYU 5-0 13 Oregon 0-0 14 North Carolina 3-1 15 Wisconsin 0-0
News
Oct 22, 2020
Spring
From Page 1 really closely what the other state universities are doing. Wootters said that even if MCLA had a full spring break, she would not anticipate that a large number of students would go to COVID-19 red zones. “We do not have a large population of students who do that, we’re very different from a lot of colleg-es in that sense,” she said. “Our students generally tend to want to go home or go to a friend’s house.” Wootters noted at the meeting that because no vaccine for COVID-19 has been made available to the public, the Spring 2021 semester will likely be similar to the fall semester. She noted that the deadline for students to decide to be entirely online for the spring has already passed and that the college will be working to meet the needs of students needing medical accommodations. “In terms of classes, we will probably have the same 30% mix of online classes,” she said. “The better thing about it is we will be able to get in front of it, so instead of at the last minute people saying they need to be online because of health concerns, we had them tell us now.” Wootters reiterated to the committee that, as with the beginning of the semester, things continue to
go smoothly on campus. She noted that students are mostly behaving and engaged with classwork. “There were a lot of things that could have gone wrong that did not,” she said. “The technology worked, the students came, the students are tuning in, the students are doing their work.” Wootters also discussed students who went home during Colombus Day weekend, noting that 23 stu-dents who went to red zones for COVID-19 quarantined as a precaution. Birge noted that there had been no new COVID-19 cases as of the meeting. “We informed all their instructors, ‘your students will be online this week’ and expect them in class next Monday,” she said. Also at the meeting, Wootters said that the Course-Steering Committee, which would evaluate cours-es the college offers, is almost ready to make recommendations to governance. This committee will go through every core credit course and vet courses for core designation. “What we’ve had in the past with the Course-Steering Committee is not a whole lot of eyes,” she said. “It’s been haphazard and up to department chairs to look after whether a course was meeting core outcomes or not, and there were a lot of courses that fell off the radar.”
Questions From Page 1
cal-level initiative as it’s largely been in the past here,” Pettey said in an email. When asked to explain why the questions are relevant amid the country facing the coronavirus pan-demic and a conflicted political climate, Pettey said the topics of vehicle technology and ranked choice voting indicate the positions the state and federal government are willing to take to ensure some sort of change. “[Question] 1 is something that needs to be addressed as technology in cars move forward. It’s im-portant to have policy in place to deal with technology rather than playing catch up after the fact. I think ranked choice voting is a hot topic right now. There are so many potential ways (via laws) in ‘de-ciding a winner’ in an election and ranked choice voting is argued to be more democratic than a plurali-ty system, which we have where whoever has the most votes wins,” she noted. Erin Kiley, assistant
Trinh Mai From Page 6
rative that comes along with these journies helps us to understand and appreciate them so much more.” I then asked Wall if there are any more small details that Mai will discuss in her talk, and she had a few more comments to say. “There is a Hostile Terrain 94’ course at MCLA, and Trinh has been in the classroom every Wednesday in the month of October. Also,
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professor of mathematics, elaborated on what ranked choice voting is for those unsure how to vote on question 2. “It means to stop considering plurality ballots and start considering preference ballots. Instead of filling in an oval for only one candidate, each voter expresses a ranked list of preferred candidates and then the preferences are aggregated to decide the winners,” Kiley said in a Microsoft Teams interview. Kiley noted that the main counterargument she has seen against ranked choice voting is that it would make instructions in the voting booth and on the ballot “complicated.” “I want to emphasize that ranked choice voting is not a radical idea. The percentage of ballots validated and invalidated in a switch to ranked choice voting is not very different from ones under plurality,” she said. The plurality system entails that the candidate with the most votes wins their respective election; e.g. whoever receives the most filled-in ovals on the ballots in the upcoming presidential election will be
determined the next president of the United States. A ranked choice voting-based workshop packet Kiley made for her classes features a photo of a ballot from the 2018 primary election in Maine. According to Vox News and Boston.com, Maine is the first state to have adopted ranked choice voting statewide. According to the website for the Massachusetts Secretary of State, the deadline to register to vote is Saturday, Oct. 24. More information can be found at https://www. nbcboston.com/news/ politics/your-guide-tomassachusetts-2020-ballot-questions/2195713/; https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/13/ metro/ranked-choice-voting-would-transform-massachusetts-elections-is-it-constitutional/; https://www.vox. com/2018/6/12/17448450/ maine-ranked-choice-voting-paul-lepage-instantrunoff-2018-midterms; and https://www.boston.com/ news/politics/2016/11/10/ maine-became-the-firststate-in-the-country-topass-ranked-choice-voting.
Sanctuary City Project will be working with another one of the professors collaborating with this course.” “It is open to the day of dialogue for students to openly engage in the conversation, and we wanted to make it a public program for students who weren’t necessarily aware of Trinh Mai.” Trinh Mai’s talk on the Hostile Terrain will be introduced at her workshop session on the day of Dialogue, virtually this Wednesday.
Her workshop is titled, “Doubt Not: A Workshop With Artist Trinh Mai.” It will begin from 1:30-2:30, during session three. “It will be a journey through her practice and home-life, how shes processed that and how her stories help her understand the experience of that, and opportunity for people to know how she deals with the trauma she went through her childhood and how she shows it through her art,” stated Wall.
Read more about your Trailblazers, and keep up to date with Want to write a guest column for The Beacon? the latest news at Athletics. mcla.edu If you’re interested in writing a guest column, contact Brian Rhodes at br1620@mcla.edu
Oct. 22, 2020
Opinion
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Editorial
Trudeau Keeping Border Closed Matches US Approach to the World
USA Today reported that last Wednesday, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said the following during a Canada Global Television Network interview: “The U.S. is not in a place where we would feel comfortable reopening these borders. We will continue to make sure that Canadian safety is top of mind when we move forward.” On Monday, Oct. 19, American acting department of homeland secretary Chad Wolf tweeted that Canada, Mexico, and the United States will bar non-essential travel over the respective borders until November 21st, a month extension from when the restrictions were originally to cease, according to The Hill. The U.S. Department of State says the three countries made the agreement in March. Seven months have passed- what have we proven to our entire family of allies? Johns Hopkins University reported on Tuesday, Oct. 20 that the United States is inching towards 300,000 lives lost due to covid-19. On the same day, CBS News noted “Coronavirus hospitalizations are rising in 37 states, and rural hospitals are feeling the brunt of the fall surge.” And the country, sched-uled to exit the World Health Organization (WHO) in July 2021, saw the White House announce in Sep-tember its intention to not join a WHO-backed global vaccine development partnership. A pandemic is not an excuse for nationalism. Multilateralism, a phrase in the arena of international re-lations, is the practice in which multiple actors cooperate with each other to achieve a
common goal. Multilateralism, with moments and shreds of grief and empathy, should be the forefront of our ap-proach to combatting the covid-19 pandemic. President Donald Trump often boasts at campaign rallies that the United States is the “greatest country in the world”- yet there is no cornerstone of feeling obligated to help the world in claiming such a title. The previous impeached president, Bill Clinton, said the following in his 1998 State of the Union ad-dress: “We must exercise responsibility not just at home but around the world. On the eve of a new century we have the power and the duty to build a new era of peace and security. But make no mistake about it. Today’s possibilities are not tomorrow’s guarantees.” (Transcript found on CNN). On the eve of the first presidential election in the new decade, the elected officials who failed to keep us safe and those who refuse to wear masks and socially distance are hindering order to maintain global health. A federal mask mandate would instill caution in the grocery store, the post office, the airport- caution that would defeat the perspective of the United States allowing a “if and but” attitude to control the response to COVID-19. Criticizing Trudeau’s decision is wrong and arrogant- he is protecting Canadian citizens, whereas we Americans need to ask ourselves every day, looking at the reflection of personal protection equip-ment (PPE), if anyone cares about our safety and livelihoods. Remember that come Nov. 3rd.
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