The Quinnipiac Chronicle, Volume 94, Issue 11

NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • VOLUME 94 • ISSUE 11

The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929

By CAT MURPHY News Editor

For 45 minutes after the polls closed on Tuesday, Nov. 7, the anxious crowd in Lauren Garrett’s backyard tried desperately to glean information from the first-term mayor’s facial expressions and laughter as members of her reelection team counted votes upstairs.

Meanwhile, Garrett’s sons — seemingly unfazed by the electoral chaos occurring in their northern Hamden home — played Fortnite in the downstairs living room. One of the mayor’s dogs trotted contentedly around her grassy backyard, instinctually flopping onto her back for anyone who would pet her.

Attendees picked at the eight Sergio’s pizzas arranged on a folding table beside the patio, the nearby fire pit struggling to take the edge off the 37-degree November evening.

But finally, in the 46th minute, Garrett bounded down from her second-story deck with a smile on her face. The election results were in — and it was clear who had won.

“I am completely overjoyed to say that our mayor, Lauren Garrett, is going to serve us, once again, for another term,” Hailey Collins, the Democratic Town Committee’s campaign manager, announced moments later to an uproar of applause. “You all have made Hamden really proud, and y’all put on a hell of a fight.”

Returns released by Garrett’s campaign just after 10 p.m. on Election Day indicate

Hamden mayor elected to second term CAMERON LEVASSEUR/HQNN

See ELECTION Page 2

QU earns sustainability award for energy efficiency

By KRYSTAL MILLER Associate News Editor

United Illuminating and Southern Connecticut Gas presented Quinnipiac University with the Avangrid Sustainability Achievement Award on Nov. 13.

Hammad Chaudhry, senior manager of conservation and load management at Avangrid — the parent company of UI and SCG — said the company awarded Quinnipiac for its sustainability initiatives after looking at the university’s conservation efforts.

Chaudhry said Avangrid looks for certain conservation criteria while deciding whether the improvements a business — or, in this case, a university — is doing are worth pursuing as a collaborative project.

“Essentially, we look at what kind of energy savings are coming out of the project,” Chaudhry said. “What kind of paybacks are there and really help our customer niche and meet them wherever they are on their energy efficiency journey.”

Avangrid sponsors EnergizeCT, a state program that oversees the New Construction En-

ergy Efficiency Program. The program incorporates energy saving resources for construction and major building renovation projects.

Depending on what improvements the building needs, Chaudhry said, it can take anywhere from weeks to months to be completed.

“We are looking at all possible opportunities to help customers save energy and become sustainable,” Chaudhry said.

With its newly installed high-efficiency lighting, hot water heaters and vending machine controls on the North Haven Campus, Chaudhry estimated Quinnipiac has saved enough energy to power around 120 homes a year.

“These programs are designed to help our customers meet their climate change goals, become energy efficient and environmentally sustainable and all do their part in the environment,” Chaudhry said.

Erik Robie, Avangrid’s director of customer programs and products, explained that the key to energy efficiency is focusing on using less energy with lighting, heating, ven-

PEYTON MCKENZIE/CHRONICLE

Quinnipiac University President Judy Olian speaks at a Nov. 13 ceremony on the North Haven Campus about the university’s conservation efforts.

tilation and air conditioning.

“It’s important for Quinnipiac to be awarded and to get the publicity around it because your president is a fond leader wanting to do energy and sustainability projects,” Robie said. “I think it shows other residential homeowners, small businesses, large businesses that it can be done and it can be done cost effectively.”

Having a partnership such as the one Avangrid has with Quinnipiac has a meaningful impact for sustainability, Robie said.

“I’m proud of the long-term partnership that we’ve had with the university,” he said. “I hope that we can continue to keep doing these projects well into the future.”

Quinnipiac President Judy Olian used the terms “learning, living and leading” to define the university’s on-campus sustainability goals.

Included in learning, she said, are the degree programs Quinnipiac offers in environmental policy and environmental sciences.

“This is really about our commitment to sustainability, to the future of our planet, our obliga-

tion to reduce our energy consumption and do what we do for the future of our students,” Olian said.

Olian added that the three new buildings on the South Quad will be certified in accordance with the LEED rating system, a globally recognized building sustainability certification program. The university is committed to becoming a model for a sustainable future, she said, noting that the completed South Quad will house a central energy plant designed to fuel the Mount Carmel Campus.

Mayor Lauren Garrett congratulated Quinnipiac on its achievement and said that the new campus buildings are exciting for the town as well.

“We’re doing (sustainability) work on the town side and I’m just really happy that (the Quinnipiac administration is) doing this work as well,” Garrett said. “We’re really happy for the partnership that we have with QU and the work that you’re doing on your Mount Carmel Campus.”

PEYTON MCKENZIE/CHRONICLE

Avangrid officials Erik Robie (left) and Hammad Chaudhry (right) present President Olian with a sustainability achievement award on Nov. 13.

2 | News

MEET THE EDITORS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Katie Langley MANAGING EDITOR Benjamin Yeargin

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

November 15, 2023

Election Night in Hamden Inside Mayor Lauren Garrett’s reelection

DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR Jack Muscatello CREATIVE DIRECTOR Peyton McKenzie NEWS EDITOR Cat Murphy ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Krystal Miller OPINION EDITORS Michael LaRocca A.J. Newth ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Zoe Leone ASSOCIATE ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Jacklyn Pellegrino SPORTS EDITORS Ethan Hurwitz Cameron Levasseur ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR Colin Kennedy DESIGN EDITOR Amanda Riha ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR Lindsey Komson PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Aidan Sheedy ASSOCIATE MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Connor Youngberg COPY EDITORS Carleigh Beck Alex Martinakova The views expressed in The Chronicle’s opinion section are those of the respective authors. They do not reflect the views of The Chronicle as an organization.

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CAMERON LEVASSEUR/HQNN

Incumbent Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett speaks with the media shortly after winning reelection on Tuesday, Nov. 7.

ELECTION from cover that the Michigan-born Democrat beat Republican newcomer Crystal Dailey by nearly 1,500 votes.

“This election has been hard-fought,” Garrett told the some three dozen people standing in her backyard, expressing her gratitude for their support. “I’m so happy to continue this team for the next two years.”

Within 15 minutes of announcing her victory, Garrett’s phone rang. It was Dailey.

Garrett stepped away from the growing number of people on her patio to take the call, which lasted all of 15 seconds.

“She congratulated me and conceded the election, which I appreciate,” Garrett told reporters later. “And she said just to keep Hamden in mind as I do my work, which I’m happy to do.”

For perspective, though, a 1,500-vote margin of victory in a town of some 61,000 people means the race was a matter of less than 3% of residents.

Likewise, only about 11,500 Hamden voters — roughly 800 fewer than in 2021 — cast ballots on Nov. 7.

Even so, the challenge for Garrett’s campaign was likely over long before Nov.

7 — eight Tuesdays before, to be exact.

Two months prior to the general election, Garrett defeated challenger Walter Morton IV in the town’s Sept. 12 Democratic primary election.

And, historically speaking, the winner of Hamden’s Democratic primary tends to become the mayor in November. Hamden voters have not elected a Republican mayor since Barbara DeNicola in 1997 — a time when Bill Clinton was the U.S. president, WiFi had just hit the market and James Cameron’s “Titanic” was still in theaters.

“We’re happy to see a Democratic mayor, obviously,” said Nick Fizzano, president of the Quinnipiac University Democrats, after Garrett’s win. “That’s going to mean a more functional town than the alternative would have offered.”

Fizzano — whose organization endorsed Morton in the primary — has been outspoken in the past about Quinnipiac’s relative isolation from the town of Hamden.

“I really like to think of it as like ‘The Simpsons Movie’ — the big bubble over Springfield,” the sophomore political science and history double major said just after the primary election in September.

“That’s how it feels a lot here, where folks

“In Hamden, we work together

to make sure that we can get things done.”

– Lauren Garrett

MAYOR OF HAMDEN

don’t know what’s going on outside.”

For her part, Garrett said she intends to continue advancing the relationship between the town and the university during her second term.

“We want students to have a good experience in Hamden,” she said. “We want you to feel like this is your town as well.”

And following her reelection to the mayor’s office, Fizzano said he was cautiously optimistic about the prospect of an improved relationship between the university and the town.

“The mayor is always good about talking about expanding the relationship,” he said. “We’re hoping in her second term to see that relationship expanding.”

But the Hamden mayoral race was merely one of many Democratic successes on Election Day. The party also maintained control of the town clerk’s office, the Legislative Council and the Board of Education.

“I want to thank all my candidates,” Collins said. “Y’all made me a winner.

Y’all are winners.”

Democratic council candidates outpaced Republicans by thousands of votes, and the only two Republican at-large representatives on the council are serving in required minority seats.

Democrats also won eight of the nine district representative seats. Their only loss came in the town’s ninth district, a historically red area of northern Hamden that somewhat ironically encompasses the mayor’s home, as well as Quinnipiac’s Mount Carmel Campus.

And while blue-and-green “Re-Elect Lauren” signs littered the mayor’s suburban backyard on Election Night, it wasn’t a Garrett pin she had fastened to her scarf. Rather, it was a blue-and-white “D” pin with the words “Vote Row A” inscribed on it — an endorsement of, as Garrett put it, the entire “team” of Democrats on the ticket in Hamden.

“You can’t be involved in politics and not have a team behind you,” Garrett said. “In Hamden, we work together to make sure that we can get things done.”

November 15, 2023

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

News | 3

Israeli peace activist speaks at Quinnipiac, receives mixed reviews from students

By LILY PHILIPCZAK Staff Writer

Amid the ongoing war in Israel and Gaza, Israeli peace activist Nitsan Joy Gordon spoke about dealing with trauma in the midst of war at Quinnipiac University on Nov. 8.

The Albert Schweitzer Institute co-hosted the peace activist alongside the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven and Peter C. Hereld House for Jewish Life on Quinnipiac’s Mount Carmel Campus.

In 2003, Gordon co-founded Together Beyond Words, an organization that strives to train and empower peacebuilders and transform the prejudices between Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs and Jews.

Working within Israel, Together Beyond Words aims to bring together Muslims, Jews and Christians, as well as Bedouins and Druze — ethnic minority groups in Israel — to heal ancient wounds, recover hidden strengths and promote emotional understanding. The workshops include dance movement therapy and listening exercises.

“Pain that is not transformed is transmitted,” Gordon said, noting that emotions often drive behavior and can be destructive for oneself and others.

Gordon lives in northern Israel, about four miles from the border of Lebanon. A few days after the Hamas attack on southern Israel, Gordon heard sirens and sought shelter alongside her neighbor in their safe room.

Gordon shared a quote her father told her during the 1967 Six-Day War. “‘This is the middle of the war. There are some Arabs and there are some Jews who are bad. Like, most people are like us and want to live together in peace,’” Gordon recalled him saying when she was a child.

For her masters degree, Gordon studied dance movement therapy at Goucher College in Maryland. She wrote her thesis on how dance movement therapy can help in understanding the healing process. The dance therapy is meant to create a space for people to be vulnerable and heal while engaging with one another in an activity.

“It’s much easier to access what we feel when we move,” Gordon said, noting that people can withhold how they feel in discussion. “Emotions are very accessible in the body.”

Gordon and other instructors teach participants through listening partnerships, which increase compassion and are helpful in conflict zones when stressful issues arise on a daily basis.

“Sometimes they cried, sometimes they got angry,” Gordon said. “There was a space for them, this was the part where they got to express their pain.”

Gordon shared stories of fear and grief of participants from her workshops that resonated with her.

“Feelings are like waves,” Gordon said.

“They come and they go, but if you don’t give them the space they continue to stay within us.”

Sean Duffy, executive director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute, said Mordechai Gordon, a professor of education, and Nitsan Joy’s brother, asked in August — roughly two months before Hamas launched attacks on Israel — if the organization would be willing to host the peace activist on campus following the release of her book, “Together Beyond Words.”

“I’m a Jewish-American. I have a lot of family and friends out in Israel and I’ve just been trying to navigate everything while adjusting to college being a freshman,” said Max Hershkowitz, a first-year nursing major. “I thought it would be nice to come to do a little research and try to educate myself.”

Some students noticed the Department of Public Safety’s visible presence at the event, while others did not.

“I feel like in the end everyone wants peace and it’s nice to hear someone talk about it and educate others,” said Samantha Levenstein, firstyear physical therapy major.

Due to a rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks on other college campuses, some students said they were concerned for their safety and preferred to remain anonymous.

In late October, police arrested a Cornell student and charged him in connection with antisemitic threats after he allegedly threatened to slit Jewish students’ throats on social media.

“As a Muslim, I do not feel unsafe,” one first-

year student said. “As a pro-Palestinian supporter, I do feel unsafe.”

Earlier, in mid-October, a landlord stabbed 6-year-old Palestinian-American Wadea Al-Fayoume and his mother in Illinois. The child, who was stabbed 26 times, did not survive the attack.

Prosecutors say the landlord stabbed the mother and son because of their Muslim faith and the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

Students reiterated that their professors had been supportive when they disclosed that the events in Israel and Gaza had been affecting them and their academics.

“All of my professors have been great, they have allowed for accommodations for me to catch up and make up,” a sophomore Palestinian student said, noting that they felt unsafe on campus because of recent hate crimes on other college campuses. “It is mostly from the students and getting side eyes.”

Although students said they felt Gordon was knowledgeable about the Israel-Palestine conflict, some students said they thought that the speaker did not acknowledge current and historical events or Israeli occupation.

“I think she is knowledgeable but she won’t say anything about (the war),” the first-year Muslim student said. “She’s from Israel, she should know about what’s happening in Palestine, like (Israel is) next to it.”

The student also said they found Gordon’s inability to talk about current events irresponsible given her role in peace activism.

“The way she framed things hid a lot of information and neglected a lot, making it onesided,” the first-year Muslim student said. “Listen to pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian voices.

I think the best choice is for everyone to acknowledge that all lives are equal.”

In early November, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a foreign military aid package for Israel without providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

“How do you not know what’s going on in a government that is giving your country $14 billion?” the sophomore Palestinian student remarked.

Students who have expressed their proPalestinian views said that their families and friends advised them not to share their views vocally or through social media out of fear for their safety. Students themselves have been cautious, but have seen other people’s views on the issue change.

“My parents are very adamant on me not talking about it,” the first-year student said, whose parents worry about the impact of Islamophobia on their child. “‘Don’t say too much because they’ll hate you.’”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations found a 182% increase in reports of bias incidents against Muslims between Oct. 7 and Oct. 24 compared to the same period last year.

“Every single time I talk to my parents they have told me to keep quiet and keep my head down,” the sophomore Palestinian student said.

NICHOLAS PESTRITTO/CHRONICLE

Israeli peace activist Nitsan Joy Gordon takes questions on her new book, “Together Beyond Words,” in Quinnipiac University’s Mt. Carmel Auditorium on Nov. 8.

Quinnipiac launches fingerprint analysis course

By LILY PHILIPCZAK Staff Writer

Quinnipiac University will be offering a three-credit course in fingerprint analysis in the spring 2024 semester to provide students with an overview about the science behind our fingerprints.

The class — which will take place on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. — does not fulfill the University Curriculum Breadth electives. However, it does fulfill an elective requirement for the forensic science minor. There are no prerequisites and it is open to all students.

“I love forensics,” said Jillian Clark, a sophomore molecular and cellular biology major.

“Even if the minor wasn’t a thing, I definitely would have been interested in the class.”

The course’s curriculum will include the history and discovery of fingerprints, as well

as fingerprint identification, comparison and recording techniques.

Jaime Ullinger, a professor of anthropology and the director of the anthropology program, created the forensic science minor and the new course’s curriculum with Lisa Kaplan, professor of biology, and Alan Bruce, director of the criminal justice program.

“The course will talk about how you testify in court as a forensic scientist, the procedures that are involved in maintaining the chain of custody, and will get into examples of how fingerprints become a larger issue in forensic science,” Ullinger said.

Clark enrolled in the class to fulfill her requirements for the forensic science minor.

“I want to learn more about the process itself,” Clark said. “I want to know what you use to do it, what circumstances you want to use (fingerprint analysis) and what circumstances

you don’t want to use it.”

Clark, who took a forensics class in high school, said she looks forward to expanding her general knowledge of the subject to benefit her future profession.

“I want to go into forensic science, and even if I’m not going into fingerprinting it’s good to know about,” Clark said.

The course will consist of both hands-on experience and discussions about the implications of real-life applications of fingerprint analysis.

It is unclear if this course will be offered year-round — this will be determined by whether students are interested in enrolling in the course. There is one section available and the enrollment for the class of 20 students is currently filled.

The class will also discuss the FBI’s inaccurate identification in the case of the 2004 Madrid train bombing and the wrongful detention

of Brandon Mayfield. Students, Ullinger said, will learn about the accuracy and reliability of fingerprints associated with the case.

Brandon Mayfield was wrongfully detained on the basis of a faulty fingerprint match. The FBI arrested Mayfield as a material witness in connection with the attacks and held him for two weeks before releasing him and issuing a public apology after the Spanish authorities identified another suspect. “(Mayfield’s case) is important for highlighting the need to take care in utilizing a technique often portrayed in pop culture as infallible,” Bruce said. “In any forensic science course, it is important to emphasize the potential for error and the need to ensure techniques are used accurately and appropriately to reduce this potential and help ensure safe convictions.”

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

4 | Opinion

November 15, 2023

Opinion Red, white and blunders

George Santos can’t be trusted to hold office

By NICHOLAS PESTRITTO Staff Writer

Throughout the past several months the world has learned about a person named George Santos, who is currently the Republican representative for New York’s 3rd Congressional District. We now know that this person is a conman, scam artist and must be removed from Congress immediately.

Santos has been charged with, among other crimes: conspiracy to commit offenses against the U.S., wire fraud, giving out false statements, falsification of a record or document, identity theft and theft of public funds, per Forbes.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, almost everything on his resume was a lie, according to The New York Times.

Among the lies, Santos allegedly mislead his donors and used their money to buy designer clothes, lied about his education and about working for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup on Wall Street and more, according to New York Magazine.

Santos’ animal rescue group that he was said to have founded, Friends of Pets United, does not exist, as the Internal Revenue Service could not locate any record of a registered charity with that name.

Santos also lied about personal things, like his grandmother being a Holocaust victim, saying his niece got kidnapped and saying that he was “Jew-ish.” Santos’ grandmother was never a Holocaust victim, the NYPD could never confirm that his niece was kidnapped at a Queens

ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR YOUNGBERG

park and he is Catholic, but since his family has a Jewish background he said he was “Jew-ish.”

Besides all of the above, the most important thing that should be noted here is that Santos directly lied to the people that voted for him. It is not fair that he is holding his congressional district’s seat hostage by remaining in the position.

Santos is undermining the simplest level of trust between constituents and their representative. This just further threatens constituents’ faith in Congress and the electoral system.

Santos is a direct threat to the U.S. and it should terrify everyone that he has access to classified documents. If he continues to be allowed

into classified briefings and receive vital intelligence, it should be believed that he could use this information in a way that could hurt the U.S. Santos should not be trusted at all.

The House of Representatives voted on a resolution to expel Santos from Congress on Wednesday, Nov. 1, but it did not pass. The vote was 213-179 against his expulsion.

This was a tragic mistake and it should have been obvious that Santos cannot be in Congress. While the House Committee on Ethics is currently investigating Santos — according to a press release from the committee — it is evidently clear that he is in the wrong when

looking through the many detailed charges and accusations against him.

The GOP is so invested in keeping its majority at all costs, and Republicans know that if they vote out Santos, he will most likely be replaced by a Democrat in a special election. Even after everything that has been levied against him, it is obvious that only a very small part of his own party is concerned.

We must put more pressure on our members of Congress to work to expel Santos from Congress, as he is a massive threat to the security of our government and will only continue to lie to the American people.

In a recent interview with CNN, Santos said that he plans on running for reelection in 2024, and indicated that he thinks that lying about large parts of his life would not have any impact on the thoughts of voters next year.

The gravity of what he said in that interview must not go ignored. Having an elected official thinking that it is okay to directly lie to his own voters and not really caring that people know he is a fraudster is extremely dangerous.

To the constituents living in New York’s Third Congressional District, I urge you to learn about the harm that keeping Santos as your elected representative will cause and to vote him out in next year’s election. He does not accurately represent the people and he needs to be removed or voted out of Congress as soon as possible.

Santos’s title may currently be “The Honorable,” but there is clearly nothing honorable about him.

Challenging educational perceptions: Why humanities matter just as much as STEM

By AMANDA MADERA Contributing Writer

If you asked yourself what some of the most important careers are, what comes to mind? Doctors, surgeons, nurses, scientists and engineers may be at the top of that list. But why not teachers, writers, authors, journalists or artists?

As someone who has always been terrible at math and science, careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) were never really an option for me. But as I grew up, the only professions I ever heard about were the ones that required years of medical school.

While jobs in STEM are important, I feel as though the humanities are severely underrated and underrepresented. Without English, nobody would know how to read, write or communicate, three essential skills needed to per-

form those jobs in STEM. Fewer students are earning degrees in humanities disciplines, even though employment and earnings are increasing, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Even though I hate math and science, I can understand the importance of taking classes under these subjects. STEM students should feel the same about their required humanities classes.

I believe that Quinnipiac’s University Curriculum requirements are beneficial, because they ensure that students are exploring all areas of interest and not just the ones that pertain to their major.

Subjects that fall under humanities, such as literature, history, philosophy, anthropology, geography and sociology “refine and reassure career perspectives alongside an

ILLUSTRATION BY PEYTON MCKENZIE

in-depth understanding of the world in historical, creative and philosophical senses,” according to Quinnipiac University.

These subjects teach us imperative skills like critical thinking, communication, questioning and reasoning. With these abilities, we are able to form strong opinions, defend ideas and arguments and foster creativity.

However, these disciplines seem to be falling through the cracks due to issues with credibility.

The “issue of credibility” means that people think humanities are overly opinionated and political, leading to a lack of public trust, per The Washington Post.

“The public doesn’t seem to trust that we are engaging in real, methodical scholarly inquiry — or, at least, that such inquiries amount to much more than informed or pretentious opinion-making.” Over half of Americans believe that “humanities attract people who are somewhat pretentious and elitist,” according to a survey taken by the American Academy of Arts and Science.

I think that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

As someone who has studied humanities my whole life, I believe that they encourage people to think outside the box and to build their own ideas. The humanities push people to stay in touch with reality and the issues of the current world, which may be more necessary than ever.

I didn’t know what I wanted to pursue until my sophomore year of high school, when I took a class on journalism. I instantly fell in love with print journalism and writing about current events.

With the strong push and advocacy for STEM professions, I didn’t even know what journalism was up until that point.

Also, the fact that the outcome of studying

disciplines in humanities are not easily measurable can often drive students away. This causes difficulties when demonstrating the impact that liberal arts has.

With society’s heavy emphasis on economic prosperity and productivity, choosing what makes you happy over what’s logical can be a difficult decision. The priority is wealth-oriented, and humanities careers may not seem like they can get you there.

Funding for education tends to be allocated based on perceived economic benefits. As a result of this, humanities programs are underinvested in compared to STEM, according to The New York Times.

On top of this, cultural trends and attitudes shape perceptions of these subjects. If success is tied to the STEM field, that is generally where students will flock, causing humanities to be overshadowed.

Living in an era of constant technological advancement can also put a strain on majoring in a humanities discipline. If science and technology are seen as more critical for the improvement of society, humanistic inquiry is overlooked.

Liberal arts are often deemed inferior and something that people who aren’t smart enough for STEM go to as a last resort. It’s never seen as a genuine interest someone might have.

I always wonder why people ask me what I plan to do with my bachelor’s degree in journalism. Due to the perspective that liberal arts degrees bring a lack of job opportunities, some parents shame their children for their desire to pursue disciplines in humanities. While the jobs may not pay as much compared to STEM, they are still purposeful and significant.

November 15, 2023

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Opinion | 5

Opinion Sundays don’t scare me

How the ‘Sunday scaries’ can be a tool to conquer the week ahead

By GRACE CONNEELY-NOLAN Contributing Writer

Everyone dreads the day. The day when you return to reality after a long weekend and are forced to face everything you need to do for the week. The realization hits — how much work you’ve put off and how much you still have to do —and then panic sets in.

The phrase “Sunday scaries” describes the shared experience that many people feel of dread and anxiety about the week ahead on Sunday evenings. They hit like clockwork. The scaries stem from the weekend when you try to forget your responsibilities and enjoy your time off to relax. Rightfully so, everyone needs time to themselves without needing to work the way they do five days a week.

Sunday scaries can be sparked by fears and apprehension due to overly heavy workloads, as well as living a lifestyle constantly connected through technology and the perception that we have to work around the clock, according to Queensland Business School.

Sunday scaries are a form of anticipatory anxiety that results from procrastination but can be utilized as a powerful motivator.

While this is not the most sound motivation, it is one that most compels you to get your act together. When we procrastinate until the last hours of Sunday evening, we have no choice but to do our work. It is crunch time and the pressure is on to finish everything before the week starts over again.

Sunday scaries create a sense of urgency that can help you determine the most important tasks you need to complete first, prioritize them and work under pressure to meet deadlines. They can prepare you for the work outside outside college by teaching you to think on their feet and solve problems quickly. Many procrastinators thrive during the Sunday scaries because they rely on lastminute pressure and an adrenaline rush to complete their work.

While you might feel anxiety in the moment, Sunday scaries save you from feeling the dread and nervousness during the previous week. Even though pushing off all of your work until the very last day can be stressful, it guarantees you an allotted time when you feel that way. Sunday scaries make you thankful for the free time you once had and motivate you to make the most

of your weekends.

Believe it or not, Sunday scaries can help you save time. Waiting until the last hour to complete an assignment will only give you that much time to finish. The scaries can boost your energy and empower you to be more productive, helping to avoid unnecessary distraction while working because there is no time for a break. There is no time to go on your phone after 20 minutes of work to “reward yourself” or catch up with friends to distract from what you need to do.

When I push off work to the last minute, I am stressed about finishing assignments, but I complete them in half the time I usually would. The Sunday scaries leave no room for dilly-dallying because it is high stakes.

But even though my work will get done, it doesn’t mean what I’ve completed is quality work. After I finish, I don’t think about the quality as much because I am so relieved that I am done with my assignment.

This feeling does not have to be a negative, stressful one. The scaries are what you make of them. If you view them as a chance to prepare for the week, you can take back control. You can use it to your advantage

ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA RIHA

and set yourself up to be more proactive with your time in the future.

Although Sunday scaries can be overwhelming, this time of the week switches you into high gear and is the best motivator to help you finish your work and contribute to a routine tailored to prepare you for the next five days. Sunday scaries are the gateway to a productive week: scaries today, success tomorrow.

Holiday season head-to-head

There’s no stress when I digest

By BENJAMIN YEARGIN Managing Editor

Again, I’m not a Grinch, I promise.

But Christmas has just not been the same for me in recent years. I love opening gifts, I love the quality time with my family and I love Christmas movies — except the overrated “The Polar Express.” But the hype around Christmas, and especially the consumerism running rampant through the holiday, is so tiring to deal with.

That’s why I enjoy Thanksgiving so much more. It’s a holiday entirely focused on gratitude and spending time with those you love, free of the crazed shopping.

I love being able to run a 5K early in the morning with a run group, then come back and watch the “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” and football for as long as I want, then capping the day off with the best meal of the year.

I don’t think it’s even a question which holiday has better food. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, pumpkin pie and pecan pie are all in a tier of their own for holiday food.

Now what’s the best Christmas food, fruitcake and ham? Give me a break. I’ll enjoy my stuffing over here.

I love being able to relax with my family and reflect on what I’m grateful for. It means the world to me to have that time to do it.

Christmas doesn’t allow you to do that.

It’s filled with stress. Loneliness, financial strain and family tensions all are heightened leading up to Santa’s day, according to the Better Health Channel.

Christmas Day can be just as stressful. You wake up in the morning, tear open gifts (which are great, I’ll admit),

get dressed and go to church or family’s homes where you’re around people all day.

You have no time to actually celebrate and relax, which is what holidays are for. There’s only so much guaranteed time off from work, school and other outside responsibilities.

I prefer to spend it relaxing instead of running around like a turkey with its head chopped off.

Now I don’t believe in putting the “Christ” back in Christmas, but I do think that the consumerism and the rampant shopping around Christmas are just so unnecessary and take over a holiday that doesn’t need to be.

The best gifts are the ones with the most emotion put into them, not anything you could find in Walmart on Black Friday.

Former Managing Editor Nicole McIsaac put it best, Christmas isn’t the most wonderful time of the year. But I think Thanksgiving is.

Pies and parades don’t make a holiday

By BEN BUSILLO Contributing Writer

First and foremost, the fact that this debate is even up for discussion is beyond me. In zero categories does Thanksgiving beat Christmas.

I’m sorry, but that’s the truth. There is no better feeling in the world than waking up on Christmas morning with flurries of snow hitting the ground. Christmas does everything Thanksgiving does, but better.

The Christmas spirit is not just relegated to one single day, it is a whole month of lights, charm and festive vibes. Thanksgiving does not carry the same weight at all. One day of parades, football and food and that’s it?

Have you ever walked around your hometown and noticed all the Thanksgiving decor? Probably not. When Christmas time is at its peak, everyone’s homes are enshrined in bright lights that create a wonderful spectacle that can only be witnessed during Yuletide. Thanksgiving lacks the duration that is a

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staple of the Christmas holiday.

I can’t immerse myself in Thanksgiving (other than stuffing myself and falling into a turkey coma). There’s just not many Thanksgiving themed commodities that a person can take part in. Can you name three Thanksgiving movies? Probably not.

Is there a genre of music devoted strictly to Thanksgiving? No, there isn’t.

Christmas music and movies should be enough to beat Thanksgiving anyways. Is there really anything better than snuggling up in your blankets with the fireplace going, sipping on some hot cocoa while “The Polar Express” is playing on the TV? Or you can decorate the tree with your family, while listening to “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey. Both are better than watching “The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.”

I love the purpose of Thanksgiving. It’s a great day to show admiration to your loved ones and to recognize all that you’re grateful for in your life. And what’s better is to show thankfulness to your peers by giving them a token of your appreciation. I’m not talking about a dumb gift card or a pair of socks.

When Christmas is done right, and the gifts you bestow upon your family and friends are meaningful, it truly embodies a magic that Thanksgiving falls short of.

Christmas is just unparalleled in its ability to bring joy and happiness to people of all ages. Thanksgiving may bring football games and “friendly” debates with your estranged uncle, but at the end of the day, Christmas just does it better. And it’s a shame. I wish Thanksgiving wasn’t overlooked; I think a lot of good in the world comes out of it. But right now, Santa Claus remains undefeated.

6 | Arts & Life

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

November 15, 2023

Arts & Life

‘Emerging’ through art KATIE LANGLEY/CHRONICLE

QU theater, criminal justice department partner to allow formerly incarcerated men to deliver monologues

By KATIE LANGLEY Editor-in-Chief

When Vance Solman met Quinnipiac University students in their 300- level criminal justice course, he asked them, “Do I seem like someone that was incarcerated for 31 years?”

“And they all go, ‘Noooo,’” Solman said.

“Do I seem like someone that’s just come home, and has only been home 90 days?”

Dressed in a tan-and-black striped sweater, khakis and dress shoes, it’s hard to imagine Solman in a prison uniform – and for more than 30 years.

At 56 years old, prison has been most of Solman’s life. The same is true for Babatunde Akinjobi, Ra Hashim, Jimmy Robinson and Abdullah Shabazz, Solman’s colleagues at EMERGE Connecticut, and, for three nights from Nov. 10-12, his castmates in “As we Emerge: Monologues of the Formerly Incarcerated.”

EMERGE is a New Haven-based nonprofit that works to curb recidivism – the tendency for repeat offenses – in the state of Connecticut through dual processes. One: provide people who just got out of prison with jobs, and two: help them participate in trauma-informed counseling and programs.

Among the inmates released in Connecticut in 2019, 57% were rearrested, more than 32% were reconvicted, about 21% went on to serve a new sentence and nearly 43% returned to prison for any reason. In a state where the recidivism rate is not in favor of recently released people, theater is just one strategy community advocates are using to help reintegrate former prisoners into society.

So on Wednesday nights, when Solman, Akinjobi, Hashim, Robinson and Shabazz aren’t working their construction and landscaping jobs — which secure them a liveable wage and job security — they come

to the Quinnipiac Theater Arts Building to meet with CJ-300 students and work on something else: art.

The course — taught by Steve McGuinn, associate professor of criminal justice, and assisted by theater professors Rose Bochansky and Abigail Copeland — and its resulting performances focus on the “What’s next?” of post-incarceration life.

It’s the second time EMERGE members and Quinnipiac students have come together to co-write, produce and perform monologues, but no one has had the experience since 2018.

The process begins with an interview.

Students come up with questions for the former inmates, perhaps asking them, “What was your childhood like?” and “How did you feel leaving prison after decades?”

From there, the students comb through transcripts and pick out the parts of the five men’s stories that make it into the script.

With a two-hour runtime, the script covers a lot of ground: abusive childhoods, drug addiction, crime, imprisonment, death, an inequitable legal system and institutionalized racism. But it also tells the stories of hope, breaking free, family and making the most out of an unimaginable situation.

The creative steps included a lot of painful reliving.

“Reliving certain events again, certain things, you kind of put away, not for good or bad, you just be done with it, and then when you’re going back down this road … all the things coming back, now you’re processing again, and then you’re like, ‘Maybe that’s why I was acting like that,’ especially when I was younger,” Hashim said. “Not really knowing why I was moving where I was moving. But being older now, you go, ‘Oh, OK.’” The performances as a whole are not really about what crimes the cast members

did or did not commit, though they don’t shy away from their pasts. Shabazz speaks openly about killing a man in 1994. Robinson is honest, too: he committed murder and was sentenced to death by the state of Louisiana.

If that sentence hadn’t been commuted, he wouldn’t be here, delivering this monologue.

“There's a lot of guys that don't try to get better or do anything better in their lives, and they became bitter, angry, but you can't be angry for something that you caused,” Solman said. “You can't be angry. What are you going to be angry for? It's just ... you made a bad decision.”

All of the cast members own up to their mistakes, but their monologues are more about the root causes. In the words of Shabazz, many incarcerated people “never had a childhood.”

“Most of the time, you start when (incarcerated people) go into prison and you hear about just that section of their life,” said Sophia Ferrara, a junior criminal justice major in the EMERGE course. “But to hear that whole story, and to see that full context of them as a human being, rather than just seeing the short part of them as being an inmate, or as a criminal, to be able to do that and to help be a part of telling their whole story, it was really incredible.”

Next, the students — with the assistance of the theater faculty — work with the cast to help them hone their stage skills and memorize their lines.

“Even from the first rehearsal that we went to, then to the second rehearsal, it was really impressive to see the way that they all were becoming more and more comfortable with the script,” Ferrara said. “So to see them become comfortable again, telling these stories, you can start to hear their character coming out again and their personality.”

Each man found ways to deal with the claustrophobic containment of prison.

Solman mentored (what he calls) his “jail sons” — five or six guys who needed a little parental guidance. Shabazz wrote three See EMERGE Page 8

KATIE LANGLEY/CHRONICLE

Ra Hashim speaks during a Nov. 9 production of “As we Emerge: Monologues of the Formerly Incarcerated” about how Black activists inspired him during his incarceration.

November 15, 2023

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Arts & Life | 7

The Beatles 'Come Together' for 'Now And Then'

By BENJAMIN YEARGIN Managing Editor

The Beatles are the most important band in my life. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr have filled my ears with fantastic musicianship and classics since my junior year of high school.

It’s the only band that consistently makes me feel something. I bawl like a baby when I hear “Blackbird” or “Julia” — songs that represent leaving home and my love for my girlfriend, respectively. I want to sing “Here Comes the Sun” to my children, I’ll gladly belt “Helter Skelter” at the top of my lungs and “Strawberry Fields Forever” is just way out there, man.

I have four of the band's records on vinyl.

“Abbey Road” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” were the first two vinyl records I ever owned.

So that’s why when “Now and Then,” marketed as “the final Beatles song” dropped on Friday, Nov. 3, I was curious. First of all, curious about how the track was even made.

But, the story of its creation is simply amazing.

Lennon originally worked on the vocals in the 1970s following The Beatles’ breakup, and before his death. Then Yoko Ono, his late wife, found the cassette tape and gave it to the surviving Beatles (Harrison, McCartney and Starr) in 1994, from which they added to it.

Harrison added an acoustic guitar — which is in the final version — with McCartney playing the piano, bass and sitar (we’ll get to that later) and Starr featuring on the drums.

The production was at a standstill when the producers and sound engineers couldn’t separate Lennon’s vocals from a piano backing track and a TV in the background.

That is, until last year.

Peter Jackson, director of “The Beatles: Get Back,” a six-hour documentary showing the recording sessions of “Let It Be,” created artificial intelligence technology that could separate Lennon’s vocals from all the background noise. Production on “Now And Then” picked up again.

Upon its release, the song instantly went to No. 1 on Spotify and became the most streamed song in the UK on Thursday, Nov. 2.

Now, here’s what I actually thought about the song: Some may say that this song wasn’t necessary, to which I agree. It’s not. The Beatles’ catalog is the best of all time, nothing needs to be added to it. I thought “Let It Be” and “The End” off “Abbey Road” were perfect endings. But if anything was to be added to it, this song is it.

It’s a beautifully melancholic final beat in The Beatles’ metaphorical heart. It’s everything fantastic about The Beatles — craftsmanship, emotion and love. Love that started in 1997 when Harrison, McCartney and Starr wanted to make Lennon’s posthumous vocals sound beautiful.

Love that was present in every single album the Beatles released, love that was the reason this song ever came to fruition.

On first listen, I’m going to be 100% honest, I thought the song was mid. It didn’t measure up to Beatle classics like “Hey Jude” and “Penny Lane” that I was used to hearing. Bear in mind, I had no headphones and was balancing my attention between the music and NHL 24.

Then I remembered that half the band is dead and the story of the song's creation.

On second listen — this time with headphones — it amazed me. Lennon’s vocals are clean. The

ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA RIHA

acoustic guitar played by Harrison in 1995 and piano recorded by McCartney pair with his voice well, but don’t overpower the song.

Starr does on percussion what he has done his entire career: complement the music perfectly. His cymbal crashes, bass drum hits and rim shots feel perfectly in time with everything else in the song.

In the instrumental break of the song, McCartney busts out a sitar, and oh man, don’t get me started on that sitar. Well, I guess I have to get started, this is a review after all.

McCartney’s performance on the sitar — a string instrument originating in India — not only is just a beautiful tribute to Harrison, who regularly played sitar on Beatles tracks, but it envelops you right into the other melodies off the track. It engulfs me into the beauty of The Beatles, and the heartbreak of losing your fellow bandmates and your best friends.

Lennon’s simple “Now and then, I miss you / Oh now and then I want you to be there for me” in the chorus will make any Beatles fan cry. It’s an infinite entendre — Lennon could be talking about the fans, Ono, his children, his late mother Julia Lennon, Harrison, Starr or even McCartney.

But it still felt empty.

You can’t replace John Lennon and George Harrison, no matter how hard you try. You can have AI renderings of Lennon and Harrison in the official music video — which admittedly made me cry to see — but they’re gone. And all that’s left is McCartney and Starr.

But in the end, the love that you take is equal to the love that you make. And The Beatles ended their catalog with a lot of love in “Now And Then.”

Season two of Marvel’s 'Loki' is a glorious ending to a beloved character

By CONNOR YOUNGBERG Associate Multimedia Editor

Season two of Marvel Studios’ “Loki” concluded on Nov. 9, wrapping up what is undoubtedly one of the most satisfying superhero projects to date. From jaw-dropping cinematography to stellar storytelling, the show’s second season captures the magic of season one while still raising the stakes.

The second season immediately picks up with Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, scrambling in an unfamiliar Time Variance Authority as timelines are rapidly branching. This is because in the final episode of season one, Sylvie, a Loki variant played by Sophia Di Martino, kills He Who Remains, a variant of Kang the Conqueror played by Jonathan Majors, at the end of time. If that all sounds confusing, it’s because it is.

While the show’s logic does make sense, it might take a few rewatches for the average viewer to follow along. However, even if everything doesn't makes sense right away, fun character moments, references to real-life history and stunning visuals are enough to carry the show while your brain eventually catches up.

The first and second seasons are very intertwined in feel, but a change in the director’s chair makes for some unique camerawork.

“I felt like having someone new and with fresh eyes — that, for me, is what will make a good season,” Kate Herron, the director of the first season of “Loki,” said in an interview with Variety.

Herron got her wish, with four new directors – Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, Dan DeLeeuw and Kasra Farahani – coming together to create season two of “Loki.” Benson and Moorhead, who directed episodes one, four, five and six together, utilized camera techniques akin to Wes Anderson.

The center compositions, deadpan humor, ‘70s visual style and the presence of Owen Wilson all contribute to the Anderson-inspired feel, which makes it a unique MCU entry in terms of camerawork.

However, one returning member of the crew was composer Natalie Holt, who once again crushed the score out of the park. You can feel Holt’s music throughout the show and her season two soundtrack is much more aggressive and dark, contributing to the overall tone of the season, as our heroes are faced with the end of the universe as we know it.

When Sylvie killed He Who Remains at the end of time, it unleashed an infinitely growing amount of branches — which are alternate realities — from the sacred timeline. The show’s main goal is to figure out how to expand the TVA’s temporal loom, which threads the branches together, avoiding the destruction of all timelines.

As a way to explain a lot of the scientific aspects of the show, season two introduces Ouroboros, played by Academy Award winning actor Ke Huy Quan, whose energy fits in perfectly with a cast that already had great chemistry.

Every scene with Ouroboros is filled with scientific explanations, but mixed in with great comedic presence from Quan so that it’s not an overwhelming amount of information without breaks.

One of the better scenes with Ouroboros is when he meets Victor Timely, a Kang variant also played by Majors, where they discover that all of their life’s work has been based on each other.

Timely, a 19th century inventor from Chicago, is a lovely addition to the group, as he feels out of place in a way that makes sense. An entire episode is based in Chicago

during the 1893’s World’s Fair, in which Timely presents a temporal loom prototype — seen in the “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” post-credits scene.

Legal issues have occupied a lot of conversations around Majors, who was arrested for an alleged domestic dispute in March, with many people calling for Majors to be recast.

However, season two of “Loki” was filmed prior to Majors’ arrest, meaning it was too late for Marvel to recast him anyways.

Regardless of Majors’ legal troubles, his performance here as Timely is intriguing to say the least. While some people could argue his over-the-top acting style is distracting, Timely feels properly out of place and different from the other Kang variants Majors has portrayed in the past.

He Who Remains is extremely cocky and arrogant, while Kang the Conqueror is more aggressive and defensive. During the “AntMan and the Wasp: Quantumania” mid-credits scene, Majors depicts a handful of other Kang variants from the comics. Immortus is the most notable member of the council of Kangs, who he portrays with a raspy, high-pitched voice.

This makes Timely’s awkward presence and stuttered speech a new take on a Kang variant. I also like to think that the reason he speaks with a stutter is because he has spent so much time building TVA equipment in his life, he doesn’t have much room for socializing.

While the surrounding cast is all doing a great job — specifically the returning faces from season one in Wilson, Di Martino, Eugene Cordero, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Wunmi Mosaku — Hiddleston is clear and away the heart and soul of season two.

After portraying Loki for more than 12 years, Hiddleston knows the character like the back of

his hand, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say he was born to play the God of Mischief. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Hiddleston called season two’s finale “the conclusion to six films, and 12 episodes and 14 years of my life.”

The final episode of “Loki” may very well be the best hour of Marvel Cinematic Universe content ever created, as Loki’s character comes full circle in what is one of the best character arcs in superhero media.

If you haven’t tuned into “Loki” just yet, I thoroughly suggest you do, because watching this show just might be your glorious purpose.

ILLUSTRATION BY SHAVONNE CHIN

8 | Arts & Life

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

November 15, 2023

All roads lead to home in 'Northern Attitude'

By ZOE LEONE Arts & Life Editor

It’s very rare these days that I see a New Hampshire license plate. The trademark Old Man in the Mountain has been traded out for the blue ombré of Connecticut that fills the streets I spend my time driving on lately. And yet, when I sat down to listen to “Northern Attitude” by Noah Kahan with Hozier on Nov. 10, it was like I could see the familiar sights on the road once again.

While the song was originally released on Kahan’s album, “Stick Season” in October 2022, the two artists performed a duet of it in Nashville this October, which tipped fans off to the possibility of a recorded version of the track. Kahan has recently released a slew of collaborations of his preexisting songs featuring artists that have made appearances on his tour, including Post Malone, Kacey Musgraves and Lizzy McAlpine.

Kahan confirmed the collaboration’s release in a TikTok on Nov. 1, telling fans that they were no longer allowed to listen to “Northern Attitude” because the version featuring Hozier would soon be coming out.

Most of Kahan’s music incorporates a theme that only around 5% of the U.S.

EMERGE from Page 6 books of poetry, which he calls “P.P.P.” — “Poems from a Prison Poet.” Akinjobi — an artist as a young boy — drew pictures to send to his kids. Hashim read about Black activists and trailblazers, from Angela Davis to Harriet Tubman.

Now, Hashim is proud to call himself an activist in his own right. He was a part of the group of former inmates who testified before Connecticut lawmakers urging them to shut down Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, based on allegations of poor treatment behind the walls of the dated institution. Gov. Lamont announced the shuttering of the supermax prison in June 2021.

“Being in the cell, studying Angela and other activists and just being motivated to do

KATIE LANGLEY/CHRONICLE

Abdullah Shabazz, 66, commands the room during his monologue.

population can truly understand: growing up in New England. The singer-songwriter was born in Strafford, Vermont, and spent a large portion of his life in both Vermont and Hanover, New Hampshire — a town a little over an hour away from where I grew up.

Out of all of his songs, “Northern Attitude” is perhaps the one where the growing pains of a New England life are examined the best. With lyrics like, “If the sun don't rise / 'Til the summertime / Forgive my northern attitude / Oh, I was raised on little light,” Kahan puts words to a phenomenon many of us are familiar with: the darker it gets, the harder it gets.

There’s no doubt that the

song is perfect as is, but with the addition of Hozier, it only makes the track even stronger. While Irish born and raised, the rainy greenery of Ireland boasts enough of a similarity to New England that his vocals on the track are no less believable than Kahan’s. And after a recent show in New Hampshire where Hozier proclaimed that the state reminded him of home, I’m giving him honorary status.

Hozier and Kahan’s verses pack a punch on their own, but there’s nothing better than when the two sing together. Their voices blend in a perfect melody, the kind that raises goosebumps on every listen. Even when they take turns in the lead in the last verse, the backing of Hozier’s effortless vocals elevates the song to another level.

When the collaboration was first announced, my phone quickly lit up with the influx of notifications I started to receive. Friends were eager to share the news — and celebrate — with me that two of my favorite artists were releasing a collaboration. And while it’s true that Hozier and Kahan are constants on my playlists, “Northern Attitude” is much more to me than that.

Listening to “Northern Attitude” evokes a similar feeling in me that driving home does, the smile on ILLUSTRATION BY ALEX KENDALL

that … then coming home and doing it, that’s one of my proudest moments,” Hashim said.

“Something I get to share with my family, share with my son. I’m not just talking about it, I’m doing it.”

The shows on Nov. 10, 11 and 12 were sold out, but a moment that elicited a chuckle from even the small crowd at “Emerge”’s open dress rehearsal on Nov. 9 was when the cast took turns throwing out anecdotes about the strangeness they experienced when first getting out of prison.

They laughed about the scary experience of walking into a grocery store or a mall for the first time in years. Too loud, too fast, too much going on.

They missed so much — not only births and funerals in their own families, but the world changing outside of prison walls.

After decades inside, Shabazz’s very first introduction to an iPhone went about as

well as could be expected. When an outreach worker told him to swipe the screen to pick up a call — TWACK! — he delivered a powerful backhand smack to the smartphone.

There’s also the responsibilities of the “real world.”

“In prison, I didn’t have to worry about paying rent,” Robinson joked in his monologue.

As of July 2022, there were 10,000 people incarcerated in the Connecticut prison system, and it is well reported that justice doesn’t apply equally to each of them. In 2020, Black people made up 44% of the state’s prison population, but only 13% of the overall state population. Similarly, Hispanic and Latino people made up only 18% of Connecticut’s population, but constituted 27% of people in its prisons.

“You can just tell by their stories, how (the system) doesn’t really favor Black Americans as much,” said Savaira Baig, a sophomore

KATIE LANGLEY/CHRONICLE

The "As we Emerge: Monologues of the Formerly Incarcerated" cast (from left) Babatunde Akinjobi, Ra Hashim, Abdullah Shabazz, Vance Solman and Jimmy Robinson listen as Shabazz speaks.

my face that always comes when I pass the ‘Welcome to New Hampshire: Live Free or Die’ sign at the border with Massachusetts.

I love where I grew up, the small towns and the cold air that lingers long past when the weather is supposed to turn to spring. But I also spent a long time wondering if I would ever get out.

I spent my childhood on field trips to maple barns, bundling up until I could barely see past my nose to go play in the snow and running through the trees that surrounded the condo complex I spent over half my life living at. Weekends were often dedicated to trips to the White Mountains, looking at the leaves falling from trees with my mother and climbing on rocks with my father.

And yet, as I watched as my high school classmates began to drop out and I met more and more people that had lived in these tiny New Hampshire towns their whole lives, I wondered if that was my own future.

As Kahan sings, “You settle in to routine / Where are you? / What does it mean?”

Growing up in New England is a beautiful thing few get to experience, but it’s also plagued with the fear of being stuck: if you submit to the routine you know, will you stay there forever?

“Northern Attitude” looks at life in New England and the good, bad and the ugly that comes with it. But with Kahan and Hozier’s beautiful vocals driving the message home, it’s easy to focus on the good nostalgia the song brings up. We may have been raised out in the cold, but this collaboration is all warmth.

criminal justice major in the EMERGE class.

EMERGE is focused on changing outcomes — and it has. The organization reports a recidivism rate of 12%, a decrease compared to former inmates who are not involved in the reentry program. In addition, over 80% of EMERGE members are still employed a year after they enroll in the program, with many moving on to full-time work.

But the program, and the monologues, are also about dignity. They are an outlet, a place to work and an understanding that the formerly incarcerated are more than an inmate number.

“Now, I’m home, and my vulnerability is on display, but I don't mind,” Akinjobi said. “I embrace it, because I want (my family) to see that I’m still vulnerable, that I’m still human.”

KATIE LANGLEY/CHRONICLE

Babatunde Akinjobi, 50, tells the story of his childhood in Providence, Rhode Island, and his eventual incarceration.

November 15, 2023

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Arts & Life | 9

AJR's 'The Maybe Man' works through the growing pains of life

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Later that day, their dad died.

“God is Really Real” discusses grief and spirituality, but the rest of the album covers a variety of topics and scenarios that I believe are on the minds of many people who are entering their adult years.

The brothers do a great job relating their own experiences to their audience. It helps me feel understood and heard when I’m going through the difficult times that come with being a 20-year-old.

As a college student, a song that really spoke to me off the album was “Inertia.” I loved the musical elements of the song, like the slower rhythm and harmonies, which made the song different from other AJR songs.

What also made “Inertia” so great was that it dives into the feeling of being stuck, literally having inertia. It can be easy to fall into a mundane routine in college, especially during this time of the semester.

My to-do list never seems to be clear around Thanksgiving and winter break. So the line, “Where I am going is right where I am” brings that feeling to light.

All but one song, “Hole in the Bottom AT IO N

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been on a struggle bus this semester. I’ve just turned 20 and I’m starting to feel the growing pains of becoming an adult. As my mom described it, “the novelty of college has started to wear off” now that I’m in my sophomore year. The workload and social stressors have become more prominent.

But something that’s been keeping me going this semester is the long-awaited release of AJR’s new album, “The Maybe Man,” which consists of 12 songs, five of which were already released within the past year.

Though the band name might not sound familiar to some, you'd probably recognize AJR’s song “World’s Smallest Violin,” which became popular on Instagram and TikTok. Its song “Bang!” reached No. 8 on the Billboard Top 100, and stayed in the Top 100 for 35 weeks from mid-2020 to early-2021.

The band comprises three brothers: Adam, Jack and Ryan Met, who have performed together since 2005.

Last November, the band teased the new album with an Instagram post of the letters “TMM.” The album was known by this acronym up until this August, when AJR finally announced the full name of the album.

Though staples of AJR songs, like heavy synths and upbeat rhythms, were

present in the album, these songs dig into deeper feelings.

The brothers announced on social media on July 1 that their father has been sick for over a year, which sparked the creation of the song “God is Really Real,” the 11th song on the album. They started writing the song at the beginning of their father’s illness and wanted to release the song while their father was still alive.

“I think the album is a real selfexploration kind of journey," Ryan said in a video on Instagram.

“It’s very much about ‘Who am I? Am I a different person with you, or you, or you?’ and what does that leave me with? I think it’s something we were really going through for the last year, just with everything with our dad. We had a kind of a crazy year and you get to hear a lot of it on the album.”

Though it was originally supposed to be released with the rest of the album, their dad’s condition got worse months before the album was released. The brothers recorded a simple lyric video to go with the song while they were in the hospital with their dad, then released the song with the video on July 3.

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By CARLEIGH BECK

of My Brain,” is labeled explicit. Although the song has a completely different meaning than “Inertia,” this is another song that's relatable to college students. Not to mention this song is an earworm and will get stuck in your head.

Everyone desires some form of validation once in a while, but this song describes how some people need validation to function. The song takes a specific angle about how social media makes the want for validation stronger. The first line of “Hole in the Bottom of My Brain” speaks about how people need to post everything they're doing online so people can see how great their life is.

Especially in our generation, we hide a lot of our negative emotions behind screens. We feel one way in real life, but our social media profiles show something completely different. This song is AJR’s take on that issue.

I would recommend this album for everyone, but particularly for college students. It’s hard to put feelings into words sometimes, but I find that music is a great vessel to do so. “The Maybe Man” describes many of those feelings in a way other musicians haven’t been able to do. So next time you feel overwhelmed with the growing pains of life, give this album a listen.

How 'Friends' will always be there for you

By CHARLOTTE ROSS Staff Writer

Upon hearing the news of actor Matthew Perry’s death, I know I speak for a majority of Americans when I say my heart broke.

His impact as an individual and as Chandler Bing in the famous sitcom “Friends” won him such a special place in so many peoples’ lives, including mine. It feels like everyone in the country knew his face and felt like his friend, and it raises the question: why do sitcoms have such an impact on people?

The first sitcom ever broadcasted on television in the U.S. was "Mary Kay and Johnny" in 1947. Though the show aired long before many of our lifetimes, it was wildly popular among audiences for its work mirroring experiences from the time period that the audience could relate to. Although the show was black and white, and mainly played on the reality of married life in the ‘50s, it gave audiences something they had never had before: a chance to really see themselves on screen.

Even as American society progressed away from old fashioned standards and traditional marriage norms, the desire among viewers to relate to those pictured on screen remained. By the ‘90s, however, Americans and their day-to-day struggles were completely different than they were in the ‘50s, and producers had to get creative with that in order to gain popularity.

For “Friends” producers Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, however, the birth of “Friends” ultimately came out of one of the lowest parts of their careers.

A previous sitcom of theirs called “Family Album” was canceled by CBS, leaving their futures rather uncertain.

It seems pretty lucky to be uncertain one minute and then scheming up the ideas for one of the greatest sitcoms to be the next.

But ultimately, that’s the beauty of the whole show — that you never really know how things are going to go.

The first episode of “Friends” aired in 1994, and it exploded. The show targeted young people and adults alike, exploring the challenges and adventures of a group of friends in their mid-20s to 30s. It made audiences feel okay about being fired, lonely, dumped or anything in between. “Friends” gave them jokes to laugh at, heartwarming moments to smile during and even fashion trends to follow, inspiring a whole decade of Rachel-inspired blowout hairstyles.

But now, almost 30 years after the first episode’s release, the show still remains a hit. The majority of the show's initial audience is grown, married and with stable jobs and kids of their own — kids who now watch “Friends” themselves. Even despite the show’s plethora of outdated jokes and problems unfamiliar to younger generations, it still remains popular for one reason only: the close-knit group of six.

People enjoy watching the experiences of characters that mirror themselves.

Identifying with the characters on screen and their relationships with others allows audience members to step into the main character role for a little while, and producers have clearly caught on to the idea. Many other popular sitcoms have taken influence from “Friends” and gained serious fandoms of their own, like “New Girl,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “How I Met Your Mother.”

I remember watching “Friends” for the first time in middle school. By the way everyone around me was always talking about it, it seemed like “Friends” was a new trending show that I was late to discover.

As I went to hop on the trend like everyone else, I was instead greeted with ‘90s New York City and people with very different problems than I had ever known.

Even though I couldn’t relate to a lot of the relationship and job drama the characters

ILLUSTRATION BY ELIZABETH LARSON

experienced at the ripe age of 14, I still loved the show. I wasn’t used to seeing the experiences of adulthood portrayed in such a way on television before, nor did I have any idea about the lessons I would learn from watching it about independence, love and most of all, friendship.

Watching “Friends'' as a young teenager was especially impactful for me as it gave me an idea of what I could expect from life as I got older.

The idea of having friends by your side through all the uncertainty of jobs and relationships is especially comforting at a time in my life when everything can feel so new and scary. Even now when I’m older and I find myself in one of those scary moments again, it still brings me comfort to remember that even through all the hard parts of life, having friends there for you really makes all the difference.

Perhaps one of my favorite parts of the show is the universal love for it among all walks of life. Watching the show late at night at my grandparent’s house or in my own living room with my parents and getting to

laugh along with them and the laugh track gave me a feeling of unity and showed me that even though I related differently to the characters on screen than they did, I could still be there enjoying it with them.

Whether or not you really ever consider yourself past those scary and unsure feelings of life or not, “Friends” truly has something for everyone. Its nostalgia and relatability make it a favorite among everyone who grew up watching it, or those still continuing to grow up with it even now.

“Friends” will never be the same following Perry’s death. Although he will be missed by so many in his life, it is still heartwarming to know that his legacy will always live on through the screen. His impact on audiences transitioning into adulthood and through other difficult parts of life, along with all the other “Friends,”will still remain for years to come, and that’s especially special today. As it’s nice to know that no matter where you find yourself in life, you can always turn on the TV and know the “Friends” will be there for you.

10 | Sports

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

November 15, 2023

More than a DJ PEYTON MCKENZIE/CHRONICLE

How DJ Christie serves empowerment to the Quinnipiac volleyball program

By ZOE LEONE Arts & Life Editor

During a Quinnipiac volleyball game, Burt Kahn Court is one of the loudest places on campus. There’s rarely a moment devoid of noise. And yet, amid the sound of feet shuffling across the court, plays being called out and the sharp hit of a ball being served, there’s the music of DJ Christie.

Tucked away in a corner of the court, DJ Christie — in her Bobcats t-shirt and beanie — fills the time before, during and after the game with her own high-energy mixes of songs, ranging from Katy Perry to reggaeton. It’s impossible not to notice her; some take pictures as they walk by, others subconsciously bob their heads to music they recognize.

For the volleyball team, and DJ Christie herself, her presence means so much more than just live music.

Known professionally as DJ Christie, Christie Colon began her DJing career around 10 years ago. Though she’s now in her second season as the DJ for the Quinnipiac women’s volleyball team, Colon found the position on a chance encounter.

“I think I saw a post on the Hamden community Facebook forum, where the coach was looking for someone to play music for volley-

ball,” Colon said. “And as a female, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s kind of cool.’ So I messaged him immediately and I was like, ‘Let me come in and interview.’ And so I interviewed, and he gave me the job, which is pretty cool.”

The coach in question is Kyle Robinson, who has been at the helm of Quinnipiac volleyball for the past five years. The idea to bring a DJ into the gym came from his time coaching at Oklahoma.

When playing against TCU, Robinson noticed the energy a live DJ brought to the environment at the game. And while Colon is great for pumping up the crowd, Robinson is grateful for her for a different reason.

“Christie is doing a great job,” Robinson said.

“We want to put strong, great females around our women, around our team. So to have a female DJ come in here and help empower our women, our team, is huge for us. The girls, they know it, they can feel it. When you have someone kind of cater to you and showing you love and trying to make an experience in the environment good for you … our team appreciates it to the utmost.”

The relationships Colon has cultivated with the team started on day one, when Robinson introduced her as “Coach DJ Christie.”

After meeting the team, Colon followed them all on Instagram and worked on curating a

playlist of their favorite songs to play during the games. It was about much more than just playing fun music — Colon wanted to create an environment of support for the team she was spinning for.

“I started to get to know the girls kind of individually,” Colon said. “Some of these girls are from different countries. And I reached out to those girls and I said, ‘Okay, what kind of music do you guys listen to? What do you like? How can I make you feel a little bit more motivated and at home?’ And I think it’s cool because we have some girls from Turkey and from Italy and Brazil ... so it’s been really cool for me as a DJ to kind of be diverse in that sense.”

The effort that Colon puts in to support her team does not go unnoticed by the players. When asked about their relationship with the DJ, it’s easy to see how emotionally connected they are to one another. Big smiles and hands over their hearts are not a rare reaction to see. At the team’s senior day on Nov. 5, Colon joined the women in their celebration, trading hugs and congratulations on their win over Siena.

“I just realized this was my last game with her,” said senior middle blocker Lexi Morse at the last home game of the season. “She came and hugged me and gave me a little pep talk for about

Christie Colon, professionally known as DJ Christie, has been the DJ for Quinnipiac volleyball for the last two seasons.

TYLER RINKO/CHRONICLE

30 seconds before warm ups this morning, so it was really awesome. She’s just the best person.

She knows how to keep the hype, she watches the crowd and she’s the best DJ out there.”

When asked about the impact Colon has had on her over the course of the season, graduate outside hitter Aryanah Diaz grew emotional.

Bouncing on the balls of her feet as she looked around the court to find the DJ, she expressed how personal Colon’s presence at the celebration was to her.

“She’s amazing. She’s our biggest fan,” Diaz said. “She comes in every game with so much energy and such a big smile. She’s so passionate about what we do here … she has an individual relationship with us off the court, so it means a little extra for her to be here, especially for our last game and for her to join us in the celebration, just puts a smile on my face.”

The dedication that Colon has for the volleyball team shows not just through her relationships with the team, but with the care she puts into picking the music she plays during each game. It’s not just as simple as picking a popular song — Colon pays attention to the beats per minute of each track to make sure there’s never a song that doesn’t keep the energy high.

Home games at Burt Kahn Court are all high intensity. Volleyball is a fast-paced game, with each play moving quickly as players lunge and dive across the court. To keep the atmosphere from dipping, Colon keeps the music to a strict 128 bpm. That means that a more mellow track, like Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me,” is amped up to a higher-energy mix that helps bring attendees to the edge of their seats as they watch the action unfold.

The method behind the playlist is just a small glimpse into the work that goes into DJing, an industry that, much like many sports, is dominated by men. Around 32% of employed DJs are female, which is similar to the disparity among employed athletes, coming in at only 38.4% female. And at the end of the day, that’s what drives Colon: to show the women she works with that nothing can stop them.

“When I work with younger girls, I feel like I can lead by example,” Colon said. “Even if they don’t want to be a DJ … just to show them, ‘Hey, this is a girl that we find cool, that we get along with and look, she’s doing what she loves. She’s following her dreams and she’s not letting anyone tell her no.’ And even if I don’t believe that all the time, that’s how I want to inspire women.”

November 15, 2023

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

11 | Sports

NCAA Cross Country Regionals: Women equal program-best finish, men find solace in the ‘process’

By CAMERON LEVASSEUR Sports Editor

BRONX, N.Y. — Quinnipiac women’s cross country used superb depth and teamwork to power itself to a program-best ninth-place finish out of 37 teams at the NCAA Northeast Regional on Nov. 10.

All five scoring runners finished within 30 places of each other, that is — 36th, 46th, 52nd, 60th and 66th — to match a ninth-place performance at the 2006 meet.

“We had a 27-second spread,” head coach Carolyn Martin said. “You show me any other team that had that kind of spread — that’s not happening.”

Senior Liv DiStefano led the way for Quinnipiac, clocking in at 20:42.5 over the 6K course.

Senior Alessandra Zaffina followed in 20:51.9.

Sophomore Rachel St. Germain, senior Corinne Barney and graduate student Emily Young all crossed the finish line within the next 19 seconds.

“The bond that we have too, finding each other out there … and pulling each other through the race was what really makes us a strong team,” DiStefano said. “I’m really grateful for these girls.”

“We’re running with our best friends,” Zaffina added.

It was not the perfect day that Martin had envisioned, but her squad battled. Four of the five scorers recorded personal bests on the day against a tough regional field.

“I would have loved to have been a top-eight team and that’s what we kind of set a goal of,” Martin said. “We actually ran the fastest that we’ve run (this season). They ran their hearts out and we had a couple of sicknesses, so you can’t expect anything crazy.”

And compared to that 2006 performance, the 2023 Bobcats were a step above their predeces-

sors. They averaged 20:56.2 among their top five in the race, more than two minutes quicker than the 22:59.3 average — on the same course — from 17 years prior.

Despite the record-setting performance, Quinnipiac still needs to make up ground to qualify for the national championship meet. Each of the nine regionals award auto-bids to the top two teams — 18 teams in total — and the NCAA Division I Cross Country Subcommittee selects an additional 13 teams from the rest of the field.

But the last two seasons show an upward trajectory. The Bobcats have won back-to-back conference championships and each of their last two regional performances sit top three in program history.

“Once they see, ‘Oh, this is how we did last year,’ now it’s an expectation,” Martin said. “The closer we get with those, the 10 teams are all really good in this region, so now you’re talking about, someone has a great day and now you’re a top five team, and then you’re looking at going to nationals.”

And like everything this team has accomplished, there’s only one way Quinnipiac qualifies for the NCAA Championships: together.

“We’re a family,” DiStefano said. “There’s no pressure. We don’t ever get negative vibes.

It’s just great. These girls — I’m going to miss them next year … But we’re building a legacy, so we’ve just got to keep making history and passing it on.”

MEN’S XC: ‘IT’S A PROCESS’

On the men’s side, Quinnipiac only put five of its seven runners to the line in the race, finishing 36th out of 37 teams, just ahead of Fairfield.

Senior Nolan Kus was the Bobcats’ highest finisher, running 32:55.9 over 10K for 186th place, followed by freshman Michael

Strain in 225th, senior James Kiernan in 237th, junior Keegan Metcalfe in 246th and junior Ohm Patel in 251st.

“The 10K is always a challenge,” head coach David Scrivines said. “Training for the 8K all year and then jumping over to this, and certainly we prioritize MAAC Championships first and this second. But I thought all of our guys ran well today and grinded. Almost all, if not all of our guys ran personal records for the 10K.” The race got off to a strange start, with runners barely 50 meters out of their boxes before the gun sounded again for a false start — a rare occurrence in the sport.

“I don’t know what happened there,” Scrivines said. “It’s something I’ve never seen in 26 years of coaching cross country. I talked with a bunch of other coaches who said, ‘We’ve never seen this in cross country.’”

But after that, the race went smoothly.

“This is a tough course, a challenging course,” Scrivines said. “But I’m really pleased with the consistent effort today and our performances.”

MAAC champion Iona, which has won the conference for 33 consecutive years, brought home the Northeast Regional title as well, putting five runners in the top 15 to score a meetlow 40 points.

Quinnipiac is nowhere near the stature of its conference counterpart. But it’s following a roadmap to try to shorten the gap year by year.

“It’s a process,” Scrivines said. “It’s going to take a little while. But we’re just trying each year to build and keep building and we’ll get there eventually. We’re making improvement. It’s a little bit slower right now, but I think with a couple good recruiting classes that we anticipate in the next couple of years, we’ll keep climbing.”

The men’s and women’s cross country teams compete at the NCAA Northeast Regionals on Nov. 10 at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York.

SOLOMON from 12 He didn’t see a second of game action and faced just six shots in warmups. But none of that particularly mattered to Solomon, a Durham, Connecticut, native who’s been watching Quinnipiac for most of his life. The moment was a testament to everything that came before it.

“To see how far I’ve come in my hockey career, this is again, a moment you dream of,” Solomon said. “It’s an honor to wear that logo, especially with these guys. Great group, led by a great coach.”

Solomon’s five older siblings went to

Quinnipiac. He frequented games as a kid and looked up to Eric Hartzell and Michael Garteig, goaltenders who helped lead the Bobcats to national championship games in 2013 and 2016, respectively. His family’s reaction to watching him take the ice can be summed up in a single word.

“Chills,” Gary Solomon, Ryan’s father said. “I lean over next to my wife while we’re watching and I go, ‘Your son’s on the ice right now.’ It’s like we’re watching somebody’s else’s story.”

And the team’s excitement after learning Ryan would dress made the moment even more special.

“When you get put in a situation like this, these are some of the best hockey players in the country and you wonder how he’ll be accepted,” Gary said. “And just to see the reaction of the team after coach made that announcement — you can’t fake that.”

Ryan knows his role. He’s also aware that his opportunity came because of another’s injury. None of that is lost on him.

“The circumstances aren’t the best, seeing Noah go down,” Ryan said. “He’s obviously a very popular guy in the room, well respected.

He’s been awesome to me.”

But for now, and at least through the end of December, Ryan can relish in his own un-

PEYTON MCKENZIE/CHRONICLE

Senior Alessandra Zaffina qualified for NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Regionals for the steeplechase in May.

PEYTON MCKENZIE/CHRONICLE

Freshman Michael Strain ran a 10K personal best of 34:01.3 at NCAA Regionals.

PEYTON MCKENZIE/CHRONICLE

derdog story — and turn to others, fictional or not, for inspiration.

“I made him watch ‘Rudy’ Monday night before his first practice,” Gary said.

Whether Ryan’s story ends with him being carried off the ice on the shoulders of his teammates remains to be seen. Regardless, the 20-year-old marketing major has forever etched his name in the Bobcats’ records books as a Division I hockey player.

“It’s just an unbelievable opportunity for him,” Gary said. “Something that was outside what I’m sure he’s ever imagined or what my wife and I have ever imagined.”

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

12 | Sports

November 15, 2023

Ryan Solomon’s Division I call up a ‘dream come true’

Sports @QUCHRONSPORTS

By CAMERON LEVASSEUR Sports Editor

Savoring the moment JACK MUSCATELLO/CHRONICLE

Forty-five minutes before Quinnipiac men’s hockey stepped on the ice to renew its rivalry with Yale on Nov. 11, junior Ryan Solomon sat in his locker room stall, staring at the Bobcats logo in the center of the jersey he was holding.

That stall had been his for less than two weeks. That jersey — less than two days.

“My dad told me before the game, ‘Just savor that moment when you put it on,’” Solomon said.

It was not the first time Solomon put on a Quinnipiac jersey, nor the first time he took the ice at M&T Bank Arena. But this time, the atmosphere was a bit bigger.

More than 3,600 fans stared down at him as he stepped out of the tunnel and took his first strides as a member of the Division I team.

“It was pretty surreal,” Solomon said.

In the wake of a long-term injury to junior goaltender Noah Altman, head coach Rand Pecknold turned to Solomon, the starting netminder for Quinnipiac’s club team, to fill the spot.

“I met with him, I said, ‘Hey, you’ve got a 14-day tryout and we’ll see how it goes,’ and he’s been great,” Pecknold said.

Solomon was officially added to the roster on Nov. 10, a day before the Bobcats’ biggest home game of the season. The next morning, Pecknold delivered the news: he was going to dress.

“To be out there tonight for QU-Yale, it’s something you dream of as a kid,” Solomon said. “It’s just a dream come true.”

See SOLOMON Page 11

Quinnipiac volleyball battling with inconsistency as MAAC Tournament looms

By MICHAEL LAROCCA Opinion Editor

This column was originally set to be published two weeks ago. Back then, this piece would have likely been more positive. However, a lot has changed with Quinnipiac volleyball in the time since.

The team is in the midst of quite possibly its best regular season in the program’s Division I history. The Bobcats will enter the MAAC Tournament with a first-round bye after securing the No. 2 seed following a 3-0 win against Siena on Nov. 5.

Quinnipiac’s 18 overall wins and 14 conference wins are both the most in head coach Kyle Robinson’s tenure. Graduate outside hitter Aryanah Diaz became the second Bobcat in its Division I history to reach 1,000 career kills. Sophomore hitter Ginevra Giovagnoni and sophomore setter Damla Gunes are candidates for MAAC Player and Setter of the Year, respectively. The amount of hardware this team could take home at the conference awards would be unprecedented.

Despite all of the accolades and potential recognition, this squad feels like it’s missing something — an “it” factor if you will. The level of optimism surrounding this team entering the MAAC Tournament seems much lower than last year. But it isn’t 2022 anymore, and the Bobcats know that.

“We came into this season deciding that this year wasn’t going to be like last year,” sophomore middle blocker Bailey Brashear said on Oct. 29. “So even though it might have looked a little bit like last year, we didn’t want it to be like that.”

In years past, Robinson’s squad tended to

start slow and then end the season on a very strong high note. This year, it looks like everyone on the team is playing jazz; you never know which note is coming next. It could swell to a 3-1 victory against Fairfield, and then what feels like two seconds later, it could drop three-straight sets to Rider and lose 3-2.

The aforementioned match against Fairfield was the only time this season where the Bobcats looked good enough to repeat as champions. Every other match has been unconvincing.

A 14-4 record in the MAAC tells you nothing about this team’s performance. There were too many points this season where the team came out flat and lifeless, but not all of those performances were punished with losses. Giving credit where it’s due, the Bobcats did not lose two games in a row throughout conference play.

“We’ve just got to focus better. Focus more,” Robinson said after a 3-1 loss to Marist on Nov. 4. “Our attitude, effort and focus level was what was major for us. It was mediocre today. So I just don’t expect it to be mediocre tomorrow. Or if it is, this same thing could happen.”

Even with a regular season-concluding victory over winless Saint Peter’s on Nov. 12, Quinnipiac is entering tournament play with questions to answer.

As the No. 2 seed in the bracket, Quinnipiac will play the winner of the match between No. 3 Marist and No. 6 Iona in in the semifinals Saturday. The Bobcats split the season series with the Red Foxes and despite sweeping the Gaels in the regular season, they’ll be in for a tough matchup no matter what.

Quinnipiac should be praying it won’t play Marist come Saturday. The Red Foxes cut

through the Bobcats like a medium-rare steak their last time out on Nov. 4, with players like Sasha van der Merwe and Jordan Newblatt combining for 41 kills and the Marist block stuffing the Quinnipiac offense 16 times. Then again, Marist isn’t exactly known for postseason success as of late, considering the Red Foxes have not won a MAAC Tournament match since 2019.

Inconsistency aside, the Bobcats have too much talent to go one and done in the tournament. In the clutch moments, the times where they need every little thing to go right, the Bobcats have always pulled through.

“When we serve well and pass well, we can beat anyone,” Robinson said. “We’ve shown that.”

But as the defending champions, Quinnipiac had a target on its back from day one of the 2023 season. Every team wants to beat the Bobcats.

“The other teams are always coming for us,” Gunes said on Sept. 30. “We’re actually the hunted team now as Coach Kyle says.”

So for this team to repeat in the MAAC, it’s going to need to get mean, it’s going to have to scratch and claw its way to each and every point. That mindset needs to apply all the way down to the bench, from players to the coaching staff. And it seems as if they’re already working on it.

“I’m not a huge yeller,” Robinson said on Nov. 4. “Even in the matches, when you see me yelling, it’s purposeful. I think that part of the issue with our team and our program, and it’s been this way for years, it’s just that sometimes we’re too nice and we don’t fight all the time.”

It looks like the Bobcat faithful are just going to have to trust him that the work is getting done. The MAAC hasn’t had a repeat champion since Fairfield won three-straight titles from 2015 to 2017. Maybe Quinnipiac will be a trendsetter.

PEYTON MCKENZIE/CHRONICLE

Sophomore setter Damla Gunes sets the ball in a match against Fairfield on Oct. 6, 2023.